OF   THE 


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HISTORY, 
MANNERS,  AND  CUSTOMS 

OF  THE 

INDIAN   NATIONS. 


HISTORY, 

MANNERS,  AND  CUSTOMS 

OF 

THE  INDIAN  NATIONS 

WHO  ONCE  INHABITED  PENNSYLVANIA  AND 
THE  NEIGHBOURING  STATES. 

BY  THE 

REV.  JOHN  HECKEWELDER, 

OF  BETHLEHEM,  PA. 


WITH   AN 

INTRODUCTION    AND    NOTES 

BY  THE 

REV.  WILLIAM  C.  REICHEL, 

OF  BETHLEHEM,   PA. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

PUBLICATION   FUND   OF 

THE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA, 

No.  820  SPRUCE  STREET. 
1881. 


"  The  Trustees  of  the  Publication  Fund  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania  " 
have  published  nine  volumes,  viz. : 

The  History  of  Braddock's  Expedition. 

Contributions  to  American  History. 

Record  of  Upland,  and  Denny's  Journal. 

Reissue  of  Vol.  I  of  the  Memoirs. 

Minutes  of  Defence  of  Philadelphia,  1814-1815. 

Correspondence  of  Penn  and  Logan,  Vols.  i  and  2. 

History  of  New  Sweden,  by  Israel  Acrelius. 

Heckewelder's  History,  Manners,  and  Customs  of  the  Indian  Nations. 

The  investments  held  by  the  trustees  of  the  Fund  now  amount  to  twenty-three  thou 
sand  dollars,  the  interest  only  of  which  is  applied  to  publishing.  By  the  payment  of 
twenty-five  dollars,  any  one  may  become  entitled  to  receive,  during  his  or  her  life, 
all  the  publications  of  the  Society.  Libraries  so  subscribing  are  entitled  to  receive 
books  for  the  term  of  twenty  years. 

The  Society  desire  it  to  be  understood  that  they  are  not  answerable  for  any 
opinions  or  observations  that  may  appear  in  their  publications:  the  Editors  of  the 
several  works  being  alone  responsible  for  the  same. 

JOHN  JORDAN,  JR., 

AUBREY  H.  SMITH,  ^  Trustees. 

FAIRMAN  ROGERS, 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1876,  by 

THE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA, 

in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


PHILADELPHIA. 
LIPPINCOTT'S    PRESS. 


MEMOIRS 


OF  THE 


HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


OF 


PENNSYLVANIA. 


VOL.  XII. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

PUBLICATION   FUND   OF 

THE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA, 

No.  820  SPRUCE  STREET. 
iSSi. 


INTRODUCTION 

BY  THE  EDITOR. 


fOHN  GOTTLIEB  ERNESTUS  HECKE- 
WELDER,  the  author  of  "An  Account  of  the 
History,  Manners,  and  Customs  of  the  Indian 
Nations  who  once  inhabited  Pennsylvania  and  the  neigh 
boring  States,"  was  born  March  I2th,  1743,  at  Bedford, 
England.  His  father,  who  was  a  native  of  Moravia,  a 
few  years  after  his  arrival  at  Herrnhut,  Saxony,  was 
summoned  to  England  to  assist  in  the  religious  move 
ment  which  his  church  had  inaugurated  in  that  country 
in  1734.  In  his  eleventh  year,  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
accompanied  his  parents  to  the  New  World,  and  became 
a  resident  of  Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania.  Here  he  was 
placed  at  school,  and  next  apprenticed  to  a  cedar-cooper. 
While  thus  employed,  he  was  permitted  to  gratify  a  desire 
he  had  frequently  expressed  of  becoming  an  evangelist  to 
the  Indians,  when  in  the  spring  of  1762  he  was  called  to 
accompany  the  well-known  Christian  Frederic  Post,  who 
had  planned  a  mission  among  the  tribes  of  the  then  far 
west,  to  the  Tuscarawas  branch  of  the  Muskingum.  Here 
Post,  in  the  summer  of  1761,  had  built  himself  a  cabin  (it 
stood  near  the  site  of  the  present  town  of  Bolivar),  and 
here  on  the  nth  day  of  April,  1762,  the  intrepid  mission 
ary  and  his  youthful  assistant  began  their  labors  in  the 
Gospel.  But  the  times  were  unpropitious,  and  the  hostile 


Vl'ii  INTRODUCTION. 

attitude  of  the  Indians  indicating  a  speedy  resumption  of 
hostilities  with  the  whites,  the  adventurous  enterprise  was 
abandoned  before  the  expiration  of  the  year.  Young 
Heckewelder  returned  to  Bethlehem,  and  the  war  of 
Pontiac's  conspiracy  opened  in  the  spring  of  1763. 

In  the  interval  between  1765  and  1771,  Mr.  Hecke 
welder  was,  on  several  occasions,  summoned  from  his 
cooper's  shop  to  do  service  for  the  mission.  Thus,  in 
the  summer  of  the  first  mentioned  year,  he  spent  several 
months  at  Friedenshiitten,  on  the  Susquehanna  (Wya- 
lusing,  Bradford  county,  Pennsylvania),  where  the  Mora 
vian  Indians  had  been  recently  settled  in  a  body,  after  a 
series  of  most  trying  experiences,  to  which  their  residence 
on  the  frontiers  and  in  the  settlements  of  the  Province 
subjected  them,  at  a  time  when  the  inroads  of  the  savages 
embittered  the  public  mind  indiscriminately  against  the 
entire  race.  This  post  he  visited  subsequently  on  sev 
eral  occasions,  and  also  the  town  of  Schechschiquanink 
(Sheshequin),  some  thirty  miles  north  of  Wyalusing,  the 
seat  of  a  second  mission  on  the  Susquehanna. 

A  new  period  in  the  life  of  Mr.  Heckewelder  opened 
with  the  autumn  of  1771,  when  he  entered  upon  his 
actual  career  as  an  evangelist  to  the  Indians,  sharing  the 
various  fortunes  of  the  Moravian  mission  among  that 
people  for  fifteen  years,  than  which  none  perhaps  in  its 
history  were  more  eventful.  The  well-known  missionary 
David  Zeisberger,  having  in  1768  established  a  mission 
among  a  clan  of  Monseys  on  the  Allegheny,  within  the 
limits  of  what  is  now  Venango  county,  was  induced  in 
the  spring  of  1770  to  migrate  with  his  charge  to  the  Big 
Beaver,  and  to  settle  at  a  point  within  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Delawares  of  Kaskaskunk.  Here  he  built  Frie- 
densstadt,  and  hither  the  Moravian  Indians  of  Friedens 
hiitten  and  Schechschiquanink  removed  in  the  summer 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

of  1772.  Mr.  Heckewelder  was  appointed  Zeisberger's 
assistant  in  the  autumn  of  1771,  and  when  in  the  spring 
of  1773  Friedensstadt  was  evacuated  (it  stood  on  the 
Beaver,  between  the  Shenango  and  the  Slippery  Rock, 
within  the  limits  of  the  present  Lawrence  county),  and  the 
seat  of  the  mission  was  transferred  to  the  valley  of  the 
Muskingum,  Mr.  Heckewelder  became  a  resident  of  the 
Ohio  country.  Here  in  succession  were  built  Schonbrunn, 
Gnadenhiitten,  Lichtenau  and  Salem,  flourishing  towns 
of  Moravian  Indians,  and  here  our  missionary  labored 
with  his  associates  hopefully,  and  with  the  promise  of  a 
great  ingathering,  when  the  rupture  between  the  mother 
country  and  her  transatlantic  colonies,  gradually  in 
volved  them  and  their  cause  in  the  most  perplexing 
complications.  On  the  opening  of  the  western  border- 
war  of  the  Revolution  in  the  spring  of  1 777,  the  Moravian 
missionaries  on  the  Muskingum  realized  the  danger  of 
their  position.  Strictly  neutral  as  they  and  their  converts 
were  in  reference  to  the  great  question  at  issue,  their 
presence  on  debatable  ground  rendered  them  objects  of 
suspicion  alternately  to  each  of  the  contending  parties ; 
and  when,  in  i  780,  the  major  part  of  the  Delaware  nation 
declared  openly  for  the  British  crown,  it  was  evident  that 
the  mission  could  not  much  longer  hold  its  ground.  It 
was  for  the  British  to  solve  the  problem  ;  and  at  their 
instigation,  in  the  autumn  of  1781,  the  missionaries  and 
their  converts  in  part  were  removed  to  Upper  Sandusky, 
as  prisoners  of  war,  under  suspicion  of  favoring  the 
American  cause.  Thence  the  former  were  twice  sum 
moned  to  Detroit,  the  seat  of  British  dominion  in  the 
then  Northwest,  and  arraigned  before  the  commandant 
of  that  post.  Having  established  their  innocence,  and 
at  liberty  once  more  to  resume  their  Christian  work,  the 
Moravians  resolved  upon  establishing  themselves  in  the 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

neighborhood  of  Detroit,  with  the  view  of  collecting  their 
scattered  converts,  and  gradually  resuscitating  the  mis 
sion.  The  point  selected  was  on  the  Huron  (now  the 
Clinton),  forty  miles  by  water  northwest  of  Detroit. 
Here  they  built  New  Gnadenhtitten,  in  1 782.  Four  years 
later,  New  Gnadenhiitten  was  abandoned,  and  a  settle 
ment  effected  on  the  Cuyahoga,  in  the  present  county  of 
that  name  in  northern  Ohio.  It  was  here  that  Mr.  Heck- 
ewelder  closed  his  missionary  labors,  and  years  memora 
ble  in  his  life,  in  the  course  of  which  he  was  "  in  journey- 
ings  often,  in  perils  of  waters,  in  perils  of  robbers,  in 
perils  of  his  countrymen,  in  perils  by  the  heathen,  in 
perils  in  the  wilderness,  in  weariness,  in  watchings  often, 
in  hunger  and  thirst,  in  fastings  often,  in  cold  and  naked 
ness,"  and  yet  spared,  as  to  his  life,  to  a  good  old  age,  in 
the  quiet  days  of  which,  when  resting  from  his  labors,  he 
drew  up  a  narrative  of  this  remarkable  period  in  his  own 
experience,  and  in  the  history  of  his  church. 

On  severing  his  connection  with  the  mission  on  the 
Cuyahoga,  in  the  autumn  of  1786,  Mr.  Heckewelder 
settled  with  his  wife  (Sarah  m.  n.  Ohneberg,  whom  he 
married  in  1780),  and  two  daughters  at  Bethlehem.  This 
change,  however,  brought  him  no  rest,  as  much  of  his 
time  for  the  next  fifteen  years  was  devoted  to  the  inter 
ests  of  his  church's  work  among  the  Indians,  in  behalf  of 
which  he  made  frequent  and  trying  journeys  to  the  west. 

In  the  summer  of  1792,  Mr.  Heckewelder  was  associ 
ated  by  Government  with  General  Rufus  Putnam  (at  that 
gentleman's  request),  to  treat  for  peace  with  the  Indians 
of  the  Wabash,  and  journeyed  on  this  mission  as  far  as 
Post  Vincennes,  where,  on  the  27th  of  September,  articles 
of  peace  were  formally  signed  by  thirty-one  chiefs  of  the 
Seven  Nations  represented  at  the  meeting.  This  was  a 
high  testimonial  of  confidence  in  his  knowledge  of  Indian 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

life  and  Indian  affairs.  In  the  spring  of  the  following 
year,  he  was  a  second  time  commissioned  to  assist  at  a 
treaty  which  the  United  States  purposed  to  ratify  with 
the  Indians  of  the  Miami  of  the  Lake,  through  its  ac 
credited  agents,  General  Benjamin  Lincoln,  Colonel 
Timothy  Pickering,  and  Beverly  Randolph.  On  this 
mission  he  travelled  as  far  as  Detroit.  The  remuneration 
Mr.  Heckewelder  received  for  these  services,  was  judi 
ciously  economized  for  his  old  age,  his  immediate  wants 
being  supplied  by  his  handicraft,  and  the  income  accruing 
from  a  nursery  which  he  planted  on  his  return  from  the 
western  country.  In  the  interval  between  1797  and 
1800,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  visited  the  Ohio  country 
four  times,  and  in  1801  he  removed  with  his  family  to 
Gnadenhiitten,  on  the  Tuscarawas  branch  of  the  Musk- 
ingum.  Here  he  remained  nine  years,  having  been  in 
trusted  by  the  Society  of  the  United  Brethren  for  Propa 
gating  the  Gospel  among  the  Heathen,  founded  at  Beth 
lehem,  in  1788,  with  the  superintendence  of  a  reserva 
tion  of  i  2,000  acres  of  land  on  the  Tuscarawas,  granted 
by  Congress  to  the  said  Society  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Moravian  Indians,  as  a  consideration  for  the  losses  they 
incurred  in  the  border-war  of  the  Revolution.  During 
his  residence  in  Ohio,  Mr.  Heckewelder  was  also  for  a 
time  in  the  civil  service,  being  a  postmaster,  a  justice  of 
the  peace,  and  an  associate  judge  of  the  Court  of  Com 
mon  Pleas. 

In  1810  he  returned  to  Bethlehem,,  built  a  house  of 
his  own,  which  is  still  standing,  planted  the  premises  with 
trees  and  shrubs  from  their  native  forest,  surrounded 
himself  with  birds  and  wild  flowers,  and  through  these 
beautiful  things  of  nature,  sought  by  association  to  pro 
long  fellowship  with  his  beloved  Indians  in  their  distant 
woodland  homes.  He  was  called  in  1815  to  mourn  the 
departure  of  his  wife  to  the  eternal  world. 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

At  a  time  when  there  was  a  growing  spirit  of  inquiry 
among  men  of  science  in  our  country  in  the  department 
of  Indian  archaeology,  it  need  not  surprise  us  that  Mr. 
Heckewelder  was  sought  out  in  his  retirement,  and 
called  upon  to  contribute  from  the  treasure-house  of  his 
experience.  In  this  way  originated  his  intimacy  with 
Du  Ponceau  and  Wistar  of  the  American  Philosophical 
Society,  and  that  career  of  literary  labor  to  which  he 
dedicated  the  latter  years  of  his  life.  In  addition  to 
occasional  essays,  which  are  incorporated  in  the  Trans 
actions  of  the  Historical  and  Literary  Committee  of  that 
society,  Mr.  Heckewelder,  in  1818,  published  under  its 
auspices,  the  "Account  of  the  History,  Manners,  and 
Customs  of  the  Indian  Nations  who  once  inhabited  Penn 
sylvania  and  the  neighboring  States."  His  "  Narrative  of 
the  Mission  of  the  United  Brethren  among  the  Delaware 
and  Mohican  Indians,"  appeared  in  1820,  and  in  1822 
he  prepared  his  well-known  collection  of  "Names,  which 
the  Lenni  Lenape,  or  Delaware  Indians,  gave  to  Rivers, 
Streams,  and  Localities  within  the  States  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  New  Jersey,  Maryland,  and  Virginia,  with  their 
Significations."  This  was  his  last  literary  effort ;  another 
year  of  suffering,  and  on  the  3ist  of  January,  1823,  the 
friend  of  the  Delawares  having  lived  to  become  a  hoary 
old  man  of  seventy-nine  winters,  passed  away. 

He  left  three  daughters,  Johanna  Maria,  born  April  6, 
1781,  at  Salem,  Tuscarawas  county,  Ohio — the  first  white 
female  child  born  within  the  borders  of  that  State  (she 
died  at  Bethlehem,  September  19,  1868)  ;  Anna  Salome, 
born  August  13,  1784,  at  New  Gnadenhutten,  on  the 
River  Huron  (Clinton),  Michigan;  she  married  Mr. 
Joseph  Rice,  of  Bethlehem,  and  died  January  15,  1857; 
and  Susanna,  born  at  Bethlehem,  December  31,  1786; 
she  married  Mr.  J.  Christian  Luckenbach,  of  Bethlehem! 
and  died  February  8,  1867. 


INTRODUCTION.  Xlll 

Mr.  Heckewelder  was  a  fair  representative  of  the 
Moravian  missionaries  of  the  last  century,  a  class  of  men 
whose  time  was  necessarily  divided  between  the  dis 
charge  of  spiritual  and  secular  duties ;  who  preached 
the  Gospel  and  administered  the  Sacraments  in  houses 
built  by  their  own  hands ;  who  wielded  the  axe,  as  well 
as  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  and  who  by  lives  of  self-denial 
and  patient  endurance,  sustained  a  mission  among  the 
aborigines  of  this  country  in  the  face  of  disappointments 
and  obstacles,  which  would  have  discouraged  any  but 
men  of  their  implicit  faith  in  the  Divine  power  of  the 
Christian  religion. 

The  subject  of  this  notice  made  no  pretensions  to 
scholarship  on  taking  the  author's  pen  in  hand.  He  was 
eminently  an  artless  man,  and  artlessness  is  his  char 
acteristic  as  a  writer.  The  fascinating  volume  to  which 
this  brief  sketch  is  deemed  a  sufficient  introduction,  was 
received  with  almost  unqualified  approbation  on  its  ap 
pearance  in  1818.  It  was  translated  into  German  by  Fr. 
Hesse,  a  clergyman  of  Nienburg,  and  published  at  Got- 
tingen  in  1821.  A  French  translation  by  Du  Ponceau 
appeared  in  Paris  in  1822.  True,  there  were  those  who 
subsequently  took  exception  to  Mr.  Heckewelder's  mani 
fest  predilection  for  the  Lenape  stock  of  the  North  Amer 
ican  Indians,  and  others  who  charged  him  with  credulity, 
because  of  the  reception  of  their  national  traditions  and 
myths  upon  the  pages  of  his  book.  Knowing,  as  we  do, 
that  even  the  most  prudent  of  men  are  liable  to  err  in 
their  search  after  truth,  it  would  be  presumptuous  to  claim 
infallibility  for  our  author.  It  would,  however,  be  as  pre 
sumptuous  to  refuse  his  statements  all  claim  to  respect. 
Hence  it  may  not  be  denied  that  John  Heckewelder's  con 
tributions  to  Indian  archaeology,  touching  their  traditions, 
language,  manners,  customs,  life,  and  character,  while  sup 
plying  a  long-felt  want,  are  worthy  of  the  regard  which  is 


XIV  INTRODUCTION. 

usually  accorded  to  the  literary  productions  of  men  whose 
intelligence,  honesty,  and  acquaintance  with  their  subject 
have  qualified  them  to  be  its  expounders. 

In  the  preparation  of  his  account,  Mr.  Heckewelder 
acknowledges  his  indebtedness  to  Moravian  authorities, 
contemporaries,  or  colleagues  of  his  in  the  work  of  mis 
sions  among  the  aborigines  of  this  country.  He  refers 
frequently  to  the  Rev.  J.  Christopher  Pyrlaeus,  and  intro 
duces  extracts  from  the  collection  of  notes  and  mem 
oranda  made  by  that  clergyman  during  his  sojourn  in 
America.  His  references  to  Loskiel,  the  historian  of  the 
Moravian  mission  among  the  North  American  Indians, 
are  more  frequent.  In  fact,  it  is  evident  that  he  availed 
himself  largely  of  the  introductory  chapters  of  that  history, 
the  material  of  which  was  furnished  to  Loskiel  by  the 
veteran  missionary,  David  Zeisberger.  In  this  way  then, 
Mr.  Heckewelder  supplemented  his  personal  experience, 
and  the  knowledge  he  had  gained  by  intercourse  with  the 
Indians,  touching  those  subjects  of  which  he  treats  in  his 
charming  narrative. 

Both  the  text  and  the  author's  footnotes,  as  found  in 
the  edition  of  1818,  are  faithfully  reproduced  in  the  pres 
ent  issue ;  neither  have  been  tampered  with  in  a  single 
instance.  Such  a  course  was  deemed  the  only  proper 
one,  although  it  was  conceded  that  the  omission  of  occa 
sionally  recurrent  passages,  and  a  reconstruction  of  por 
tions  of  the  volume  might  render  the  matter  more  per 
spicuous,  and  the  book  more  readable,  without  detracting 
from  its  value  as  a  repository  of  well  authenticated  facts.* 

*  The  annotations  in  brackets  are  by  the  Editor. 


AN  ACCOUNT 


OF  THE 


HISTORY,  MANNERS,  AND  CUSTOMS 


OF  THE 


INDIAN  NATIONS, 

WHO  ONCE  INHABITED   PENNSYLVANIA  AND 
THE  NEIGHBOURING  STATES. 


BY  THE 

REV.  JOHN  HECKEWELDER, 

OF  BETHLEHEM. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
PRINTED  AND  PUBLISHED  BY  ABRAHAM  SMALL, 

No.   112  CHESTNUT  STREET. 
1819. 


TO 

CASPAR   WISTAR,  M.  D., 

PRESIDENT   OF   THE   AMERICAN  PHILOSOPHICAL   SOCIETY,  ETC. 

DEAR  SIR. —  Having,  at  your  particular  request,  undertaken  the  ar 
duous  task  of  giving  to  the  Historical  Committee  of  our  Society  an 
Account  of  those  Indian  Nations  and  Tribes  which  once  inhabited  Penn 
sylvania  and  the  adjoining  States,  including  those  who  are  known  by  the 
name  of  the  "  Six  Nations ;  "  I  have  now,  as  far  as  has  been  in  my  power, 
complied  with  your  wishes,  or  at  least  I  have  endeavoured  so  to  do. 

Foreseeing  the  difficulties  I  should  labour  under,  in  writing  the  history 
of  a  people,  of  whom  so  many  had  already  written,  I  could  not  but  con 
sider  the  undertaking  both  as  unpleasant  and  hazardous ;  being  aware, 
that  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  in  all  respects  to  coincide  with  those 
who  have  written  before  me  ;  among  whom  there  are  not  a  few,  who, 
although  their  good  intentions  cannot  be  doubted,  yet  from  their  too 
short  residence  in  the  country  of  the  Indians,  have  not  had  sufficient 
opportunities  to  acquire  the  knowledge  which  they  undertake  to  commu 
nicate.  Ignorant  of  the  language,  or  being  but  superficially  acquainted 
with  it,  they  have  relied  on  ignorant  or  careless  interpreters,  by  whom 
they  have  been  most  frequently  led  astray;  in  what  manner,  this  little 
work  will  abundantly  shew. 

The  sure  way  to  obtain  correct  ideas,  and  a  true  knowledge  of  the 
characters,  customs,  manners,  &c.,  of  the  Indians,  and  to  learn  their 
history,  is  to  dwell  among  them  for  some  time,  and  having  acquired 
their  language,  the  information  wished  for  will  be  obtained  in  the  com 
mon  way;  that  is,  by  paying  attention  to  their  discourses  with  each 
other  on  different  subjects,  and  occasionally  asking  them  questions ;  al 
ways  watching  for  the  proper  opportunity,  when  they  do  not  suspect 
your  motives,  and  are  disposed  to  be  free  and  open  with  you. 

The  political  state  and  connexions  of  the  two  once  great  and  rival 
nations,  the  Mengwe,  (or  Six  Nations)  and  the  Lenape  (or  Delawares, 
as  we  call  them),  being  little,  or  but  imperfectly  known  to  many  of  us, 
I  have  been  at  some  pains  in  unfolding  the  origin  and  true  cause  of 
their  rivalship  ;  and  the  means  resorted  to  by  the  one  nation,  to  bring 
2  xvii 


Xviii  DEDICATION. 

themselves  into  consequence  with  the  white  people,  for  the  purpose  of 
subduing  the  other. 

How  far  the  Six  Nations  have  succeeded  in  this,  we  know ;  at  least, 
we  know  so  much,  that  they  sold  the  country  of  the  Lenape,  Mohicans, 
and  other  tribes  connected  with  them,  by  piecemeals  to  the  English,  so 
that  they  were  finally  obliged  to  wander  to  the  West,  while  their  enemies, 
during  all  this  time, remained  in  full  and  quiet  possession  of  their  country. 

If  we  ought,  or  wish  to  know  the  history  of  those  nations  from  whom 
we  have  obtained  the  country  we  now  live  in,  we  must  also  wish  to  be  in 
formed  of  the  means  by  which  that  country  fell  into  our  hands,  and 
what  has  become  of  its  original  inhabitants.  To  meet  this  object,  I  have 
given  their  traditions  respecting  their  first  coming  into  our  country, 
and  their  own  history  of  the  causes  of  their  emigrating  from  it. 

On  all  the  subjects  which  I  have  treated  respecting  the  different  tribes, 
I  have  endeavoured  to  be  impartial.  Yet,  if  I  should  still  be  thought  to 
have  shewn  some  partiality  for  the  Delawares  and  their  connexions,  with 
respect  to  the  affairs  between  them  and  the  Six  Nations,  I  have  only  to 
reply,  that  we  have  been  attentive  to  all  the  Six  Nations  told  us  of  these 
people,  until  we  got  possession  of  their  whole  country ;  and  now,  having 
what  we  wanted,  we  ought  not  to  turn  them  off  with  this  story  on  their 
backs,  but  rather,  out  of  gratitude  and  compassion,  give  them  also  a  hear 
ing,  and  acquit  them  honourably,  if  we  find  them  deserving  of  it. 

What  I  have  written,  concerning  their  character,  their  customs,  man 
ners,  and  usages,  is  from  personal  knowledge,  and  from  such  other  in 
formation  as  may  be  relied  on  ;  and  in  order  to  be  the  better  understood, 
I  have  frequently  added  anecdotes,  remarks,  and  relations  of  particular 
events.  In  some  instances  I  have  had  reference  to  authors,  and  manu 
script  notes  taken  dow-n  upwards  of  seventy  years  since,  by  individuals 
well  deserving  of  credit. 

To  you,  Sir,  I  need  not  apologise  for  my  deficiency  in  point  of  style 
and  language,  which  has  been  known  to  you  long  since.  I  have  en 
deavoured  to  make  amends  for  this  defect,  by  being  the  more  careful 
and  correct  in  my  narrations,  so  as  at  least  to  make  up  in  matter  what 
in  manner  may  be  deficient. 

I  am,  Sir,  with  great  respect, 

Your  obedient  humble  servant, 
November,  1817.  JOHN  HECKEWELDER. 

SINCE  the  above  was  written,  my  excellent  friend  DR.  WISTAR  has  departed  this 
life,  lamented  by  the  whole  country,  of  which  he  was  an  ornament.  To  me  he  was 
more  than  I  can  express;  he  directed  and  encouraged  my  humble  labours,  and  to 
his  approbation  I  looked  up  as  my  best  reward.  He  is  gone,  but  his  name  and  his 
virtues  will  long  be  held  in  remembrance.  By  me,  at  least,  they  shall  never  be  for- 
gotten.  This  Dedication,  therefore,  will  remain,  as  a  testimony  of  the  high  respecl 
I  bore  to  this  great  and  good  man  while  living,  and  as  a  tribute  justly  due  to  his 
memory.  j  £j 

BETHLEHEM,  March,  1818. 


PART   I. 


AN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  HISTORY,  MANNERS,  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  THE 

INDIAN   NATIONS  WHO  ONCE   INHABITED   PENNSYLVANIA  AND 
THE  NEIGHBOURING  STATES. 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION  BY  THE  EDITOR     .....  vii 

DEDICATION  .............  xvii 

INTRODUCTION  BY  THE  AUTHOR     .........  xxiii 

CHAPTER 

I.   HISTORICAL  TRADITIONS  OF  THE  INDIANS       .....  47 

II.   INDIAN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  FIRST  ARRIVAL  OF  THE  DUTCH  AT  NEW 

YORK  ISLAND        ..........  71 

V'lII.   INDIAN  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CONDUCT  OF  THE  EUROPEANS  TOWARDS 

THEM     ............  76 

IV.   SUBSEQUENT  FATE  OF  THE  LENAPE  AND  THEIR  KINDRED  TRIBES    .  83 

V.   THE  IROQUOIS  ...........  95 

GENERAL  CHARACTER  OF  THE  INDIANS    ......  100 

VII.     GowTfVMF.NT      ...........  IO7 

VIII.   EDUCATION        ...........  113 

IX.   LANGUAGES        ...........  118 

X.     SIGNS    AND    HIEROGLYPHICS           ........  128 

XL   ORATORY  ............  132 

XII.   METAPHORICAL  EXPRESSIONS    ........  137 

XIII.  INDIAN  NAMES  ...........  141 

XIV.  INTERCOURSE  WITH  EACH  OTHER     .......  145 

XV.   POLITICAL  MANOEUVRES     .........  150 

V'XVI.   MARRIAGE  AND  TREATMENT  OF  THEIR  WIVES  .....  154 

XVII.    RESPECT  FOR  THE  AGED  .........  163 

XVIII.   PRIDE  AND  GREATNESS  OF  MIND      .......  170 

XIX.     WARS   AND   THE   CAUSES   WHICH   LEAD   TO   THEM         .            .            .            .  175 

XX.   MANNER  OF  SURPRISING  THEIR  ENEMIES  ......  177 

XXI.   PEACE  MESSENGERS    ..........  181 

XXII.   TREATIES  ............  185 

xix 


XX  CONTENTS. 

./CHAPTER 

XIII.   GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS  OF  THE  INDIANS  ON  THE  WHITE  PEOPLE. 
FOOD  AND  COOKERY   ......... 

XXV.   DRESS  AND  ORNAMENTING  OF  THEIR  PERSONS    .        .        .        . 

I/XXVI.   DANCES,  SONGS,  AND  SACRIFICES  ....... 

SCALPING  —  WHOOPS  OR  YELLS  —  PRISONERS       .        .        .        . 

BODILY  CONSTITUTION  AND  DISEASES  ...... 

V/XXIX.   REMEDIES    ........... 

V/XXX.   PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  ........ 

XXXI.  DOCTORS  OR  JUGGLERS        ........ 

^XXXII.   SUPERSTITION      .......... 

XXXIII.   INITIATION  OF  BOYS    ......... 

INDIAN  MYTHOLOGY    ......... 

XXXV.    INSANITY  —  SUICIDE    .    .    ........ 

DRUNKENNESS     .......... 

FUNERALS    ........... 

'  XXXVIII.   FRIENDSHIP  ........... 

VXXXIX.   PREACHERS  AND  PROPHETS  ........ 

XL.   SHORT  NOTICE  OF  THE  INDIAN  CHIEFS  TAMANEND  AND  TADE- 
USKUND   ........... 

XLI.   COMPUTATION    OF   TIME  —  ASTRONOMICAL   AND    GEOGRAPHICAL 

KNOWLEDGE       .......... 

GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS  AND  ANECDOTES  ..... 

ADVICE  TO  TRAVELLERS      ........ 

V^XLIV.  THE  INDIANS  AND  THE  WHITES  COMPARED        .... 

CONCLUSION    .  .......... 


XLII. 
XLIII. 


187 

J93 
202 

2°8 
215 
220 
224 
22§ 
23J 
239 
245 
249 
257 
261, 
268 

277 
290 


3°6 

310 

3l8 
328 
346 


PART   II. 


CORRESPONDENCE  RESPECTING  THE  INDIAN  LANGUAGES. 


INTRODUCTION 


LETTER 

I.  MR.  DUPONCEAU  TO  MR.  HECKEWELDER,  QTH  JANUARY,  1816 

II.  DR.  C.  WISTAR  TO  MR.  HECKEWELDER  (SAME  DATE)       .        . 

III.  MR.  HECKEWELDER  TO  DR.  WISTAR,  24TH  MARCH.        .        . 

IV.  THE  SAME  TO  THE  SAME,  30  APRIL 

V.  MR.  DUPONCEAU  TO  DR.  WISTAR,  i4TH  MAY 

VI.  DR.  WISTAR  TO  MR.  HECKEWELDER,  2isT  MAY       ... 

VII.  MR.  HECKEWELDER  TO  MR.  DUPONCEAU,  27™  MAY       .        . 

VIII.  MR.  DUPONCEAU  TO  MR.  HECKEWELDER,  IOTH  JUNE       .        . 

IX.  THE  SAME  TO  THE  SAME,  I3TH  JUNE 

X.  MR.  HECKEWELDER  TO  MR.  DUPONCEAU,  20TH  JUNE       .        . 


PAGE 

351 

353 
354 
356 
358 
359 
359 
361 
364 
369 
371 


CONTENTS. 


XXI 


LETTER 

XI.  THE  SAME  TO  THE  SAME,  24™  JUNE 

XII.  MR.  DUPONCEAU  TO  MR.  HECKEWELDER, 

XIII.  THE  SAME  TO  THE  SAME,  i8TH  JULY 

XIV.  MR.  HECKEWELDER  TO  MR.  DUPONCEAU, 
XV.  THE  SAME  TO  THE  SAME,  24™  JULY 

XVI.  MR.  DUPONCEAU  TO  MR.  HECKEWELDER, 

XVII.  THE  SAME  TO  THE  SAME,  30  AUGUST 

XVIIT.  MR.  HECKEWELDER  TO  MR.  DUPONCEAU, 

XIX.  THE  SAME  TO  THE  SAME,  15™  AUGUST. 

XX.  MR.  DUPONCEAU  TO  MR.   HECKEWELDER, 

XXI.  MR.  HECKEWELDER  TO  MR.  DUPONCEAU, 

XXII.  THE  SAME  TO  THE  SAME,  27TH  AUGUST. 

XXIII.  MR.  DUPONCEAU  TO  MR.  HECKEWELDER, 

XXIV.  MR.  HECKEWELDER  TO  MR.  DUPONCEAU, 
XXV.  MR.  DUPONCEAU  TO  MR.  HECKEWELDER, 

XXVI.  MR.  HECKEWELDER  TO  MR.  DUPONCEAU, 


PACK 

R,  I3TH  JULY  . 

.  376 



•  379 

j,  220  JULY 

.  380 



•  383 

*,  3isT  JULY  . 

•  387 



•  392 

j,  I2TH  AUGUST. 

-  395 

-  399 

R,  2  IST  AUGUST. 

•  403 

u,  26TH  AUGUST 

.  409 

•  4H 

R,  3OTH  AUGUST 

.  416 

j,  5TH  SEPTEMBER  . 

.  422 

R,  IST  OCTOBER. 

.  426 

j,  IOTH  OCTOBER 

•  43° 

PART   III. 

WORDS,  PHRASES,  AND  SHORT  DIALOGUES 


437 


gHE  reader  of  the  following  pages,  having  already  seen 
what  has  induced  me  to  come  forward  with  an  his 
torical  account  of  the  Indians,  after  so  many  have 
written  on  the  same  subject,  will  perhaps  look  for 
something  more  extraordinary-  in  this  than  in  other  works  of 
the  kind  which  he  has  seen.  Not  wishing  any  one  to  raise  his 
expectations  too  high,  I  shall  briefly  state  that  I  have  not 
written  to  excite  astonishment,  but  for  the  information  of  those 
who  are  desirous  of  knowing  the  true  history  of  those  people, 
who,  for  centuries,  have  been  in  full  possession  of  the  country 
we  now  inhabit ;  but  who  have  since  emigrated  to  a  great  dis 
tance.  I  can  only  assure  them,  that  I  have  not  taken  the  infor 
mation  here  communicated  from  the  writings  of  others,  but  from 
the  mouths  of  the  very  people  I  am  going  to  speak  of,  and  from 
my  own  observation  of  what  I  have  witnessed  while  living 
among  them.  I  have,  however,  occasionally  quoted  other 
authors,  and  in  some  instances  copied  short  passages  from  their 
works,  especially  where  I  have  thought  it  necessary  to  illustrate 
or  corroborate  my  own  statements  of  facts. 

In  what  I  have  written  concerning  the  character,  customs, 
manners,  and  usages  of  these  people,  I  cannot  have  been 
deceived,  since  it  is  the  result  of  personal  knowledge,  of  what 
I  myself  have  seen,  heard,  and  witnessed,  while  residing  among 
and  near  them,  for  more  than  thirty  years.  I  have  however  to 
remark,  that  this  history,  like  other  histories  of  former  times, 
will  not  in  every  respect  comport  with  the  character  of  the 
Indians  at  the  present  time,  since  all  these  nations  and  tribes,  by 


XXIV  INTRODUCTION. 

their  intercourse  with  the  white  people,  have  lost  much  of  the 
honourable  and  virtuous  qualities  which  they  once  possessed, 
and  added  to  their  vices  and  immorality.  Of  this,  no  one  can 
be  a  better  judge  than  a  missionary  residing  among  them.  And 
if,1  what  these  people  told  us  more  than  half  a  century  ago  ;  that 
lying,  stealing,  and  other  vicious  acts,  before  the  white  men  came 
among  them,  were  considered  as  crimes,  we  may  safely  conclude 
—  and  we  know  it  to  be  fact  —  that  from  that  time  to  this,  and 
especially  within  the  last  forty  years,  they  have  so  much  degen 
erated,  that  a  delineation  of  their  present  character  would  bear 
no  resemblance  to  what  it  was  before.  —  It  is  therefore  the  his 
tory  of  early  times,  not  of  the  present,  that  I  have  written ;  and 
to  those  times  my  delineations  of  their  character  must  be  con 
sidered  to  apply;  yet,  to  shew  the  contrast,  I  have  also  deline 
ated  some  of  their  present  features. 

It  may  be  proper  to  mention  in  this  place,  that  I  have  made 
use  of  the  proper  national  name  of  the  people  whom  we  call 
Delaware*,  which  is:  "Lewd  Lenape"  Yet,  as  they,  in  the  common 
way  of  speaking,  merely  pronounce  the  word  "Lenape"  I  have, 
in  most  instances,  when  speaking  of  them,  used  this  word  singly. 
I  have  also  made  use  of  the  word  "Mengwe"  or  Mingoes,  the 
name  by  which  the  Lenape  commonly  designate  the  people 
known  to  us  by  the  name  of  the  Iroquois,  and  Five  or  Six  Nations. 
I  shall  give  at  the  end  a  general  list  of  all  the  names  I  have 
made  use  of  in  this  communication,  to  which  I  refer  the  reader 
for  instruction. 

As  the  Indians,  in  all  their  public  speeches  and  addresses, 
speak  in  the  singular  number,  I  have  sometimes  been  led  to 
follow  their  example,  when  reporting  what  they  have  said;  I 
have  also  frequently,  by  attending  particularly  to  the  identical 
words  spoken  by  them,  copied  their  peculiar  phrases,  when  I 
might  have  given  their  meaning  in  other  words. 

On  the  origin  of  the  Indians,  I  have  been  silent,  leaving  this 
speculation  to  abler  historians  than  myself.  To  their  history, 
and  notions  with  regard  to  their  creation,  I  have  given  a  place  ; 
and  have  also  briefly  related  the  traditions  of  the  Lenape  on  the 

1  Between  the  words  "*/"  and  «  wfat"  insert  "  we  can  credit." 


INTRODUCTION.  XXV 

subject  of  their  arrival  at,  and  crossing  the  river  Mississippi, 
their  coming  to  the  Atlantic  coast,  what  occurred  to  them  while 
in  this  country,  and  their  retreat  back  again. 

As  the  relation  of  the  Delawares  and  Mohicans,  concerning 
the  policy  adopted  and  pursued  by  the  Six  Nations  towards 
them,  may  perhaps  appear  strange  to  many,  and  it  may  excite 
some  astonishment,  that  a  matter  of  such  importance  was  not 
earlier  set  forth  in  the  same  light,  I  shall  here,  by  way  of  intro 
duction,  and  for  the  better  understanding  of  the  account  which 
they  give  of  this  matter,  examine  into  some  facts,  partly  known 
to  us  already,  and  partly  now  told  us  in  their  relation  ;  so  that 
we  may  see  how  far  these  agree  together,  and  know  what  we 
may  rely  upon. 

It  is  conceded  on  all  sides  that  the  Lenape  and  Iroquois  car 
ried  on  long  and  bloody  wars  with  each  other ;  but  while  the 
one  party  assert,  that  they  completely  conquered  the  other,  and 
reduced  them  by  force  to  the  condition  of  women,  this  assertion 
is  as  strongly  and  pointedly  denied  by  the  other  side ;  I  have 
therefore  thought  that  the  real  truth  of  this  fact  was  well  deserv 
ing  of  investigation. 

The  story  told  by  the  Mingoes  to  the  white  people,  of  their 
having  conquered  the  Lenape  and  made  women  of  them,  was 
much  too  implicitly  believed ;  for  the  whites  always  acted 
towards  the  Delawares  under  the  impression  that  it  was  true, 
refused  even  to  hear  their  own  account  of  the  matter,  and  "  shut 
their  ears  "  against  them,  when  they  attempted  to  inform  them 
of  the  real  fact.  This  denial  of  common  justice,  is  one  of  the 
principal  complaints  of  the  Lenape  against  the  English,  and 
makes  a  part  of  the  tradition  or  history  which  they  preserve  for 
posterity. 

This  complaint  indeed,  bears  hard  upon  us,  and  should,  at 
least,  operate  as  a  solemn  call  to  rectify  the  error,  if  such  it  is 
found  to  be ;  that  we,  in  our  history,  may  not  record  and  trans 
mit  erroneous  statements  of  those  Aborigines,  from  whom  we 
have  received  the  country  we  now  so  happily  inhabit.  We  are 
bound  in  honour  to  acquit  ourselves  of  all  charges  of  the  kind 
which  those  people  may  have  against  us,  who,  in  the  beginning 
welcomed  us  to  their  shores,  in  hopes  that  "  they  and  we  would 


XXVI  INTRODUCTION. 

sit  beside  each  other  as  brothers ; "  and  it  should  not  be  said, 
that  now,  when  they  have  surrendered  their  whole  country  to 
us,  and  retired  to  the  wilds  of  a  distant  country,  we  turn  our 
backs  upon  them  with  contempt. 

We  know  that  all  Indians  have  the  custom  of  transmitting  to 
posterity,  by  a  regular  chain  of  tradition,  the  remarkable  events 
which  have  taken  place  with  them  at  any  time,  even  often  events 
of  a  trivial  nature,  of  which  I  could  mention  a  number.  Ought 
we  then,  when  such  a  source  of  information  is  at  hand,  to  believe 
the  story  told  by  the  Six  Nations,  of  their  having  conquered  the 
Lenape,  (a  powerful  nation  with  a  very  large  train  of  con 
nexions  and  allies)  and  forcibly  made  them  women  ?  Ought  we 
not,  before  we  believe  this,  to  look  for  a  tradition  of  the  circum 
stances  of  so  important  an  event ;  for  some  account,  at  least,  of 
the  time,  place,  or  places,  where  those  battles  were  fought,  which 
decided  the  fate  of  the  Lenape,  the  Mohicans,  and  of  a  number 
of  tribes  connected  with  them  ?  Are  we  to  be  left  altogether 
ignorant  of  the  numbers  that  were  slain  at  the  time,  and  the 
country  in  which  this  memorable  event  took  place ;  whether  on 
the  St.  Lawrence,  on  the  Lakes,  in  the  country  of  the  conquer 
ors,  or  of  the  conquered  ?  All  these  I  am  inclined  to  call  first 
considerations,  while  a  second  would  be  :  How  does  this  story 
accord  with  the  situation  the  first  Europeans  found  these  people 
in  on  their  arrival  in  this  country  ?  Were  not  those  who  are 
said  to  be  a  conquered  people,  thickly  settled  on  the  whole 
length  of  the  sea  coast,  and  far  inland,  in  and  from  Virginia  to 
and  beyond  the  Province  of  Maine,  and  had  they  not  yet,  at  that 
very  time,  a  great  National  Council  Fire  burning  on  the  banks 
of  the  Delaware?  Does  not  the  joint  tradition  of  the  Dela- 
wares,  Mohicans  and  Nanticokes,  inform  us,  that  their  great 
National  Council  House l  then  extended  from  the  head  of  the 
tide  on  the  (now)  Hudson  river,  to  the  head  of  the  tide  on  the 
Potomack?  All  this  we  shall  find  faithfully  copied  or  written 
down  from  their  verbal  tradition,  and  that  this  Council  House 
"was  pulled  down  by  the  white  people!"2  and  of  course  was 

1  A  figurative  expression,  denoting  the  territory  claimed  by  them,  and  occupied 
at  the  time, 

'  Alluding  to  the  white  people  settling  those  countries. 


INTRODUCTION.  XXVH 

yet  standing  when  they  came  into  the  country ;  which  alone  is 
sufficient  to  prove  that  the  Lenape,  at  that  time,  were  not  a  con 
quered  people ;  and  if  they  had  been  conquered  since,  we  might 
expect  to  find  the  fact,  with  its  particulars,  somewhere  on  record. 
It  is  admitted,  however,  by  the  Lenape  themselves,  that  they 
and  their  allies  were  made  women  by  the  Iroquois.  But  how 
did  this  happen  ?  Not  surely  by  conquest,  or  the  fate  of  battle. 
Strange  as  it  may  appear,  it  was  not  produced  by  the  effects  of 
superior  force,  but  by  successful  intrigue.  Here,  if  my  inform 
ants  were  correct,  and  I  trust  they  were,  rests  the  great  mystery, 
for  the  particulars  of  which,  I  refer  the  reader  to  the  history  of 
the  Lenape  and  Mohicans  themselves,  as  related  in  part  by 
Loskiel  in  his  "  History  of  the  Mission  of  the  United  Brethren 
among  the  North  American  Indians,"1  and  in  this  work.  In  the 
first,  he  will  find  three  material  points  ascertained,  viz.  1st,  "that 
the  Delawares  were  too  strong  for  the  Iroquois,  and  could  not 
be  conquered  by  them  by  force  of  arms,  but  were  subdued  by 
insidious  means.  2d,  that  the  making  women  of  the  Delawares 

1  [The  book  referred  to  here  and  elsewhere  frequently  in  the  course  of  his  narra 
tive  by  the  author,  was  written  by  the  Rev.  Ge.orge  Henry  Loskiel,  a  clergyman  of 
the  Continental  Province  of  the  Moravian  Church,  and  was  published  at  Barby^ 
Saxony,  in  1789.  It  is  entitled  "  Geschichte  der  Mission  der  Evangelischen  Briider 
unter  den  Indianern  in  Nordamerika,"  and  is  a  faithful  record  of  the  Christian  work 
in  which  the  Moravians  engaged  chiefly  among  the  Lenape  and  Iroquois  stocks  of 
the  aborigines,  in  the  interval  between  1735  and  1787.  The  material  on  which  the 
author  wrought  in  the  preparation  of  his  history  was  furnished  mainly  from  the 
archives  of  his  church  at  Herrnhut,  to  which  duplicates  of  the  missionaries'  journals 
were  statedly  forwarded.  In  this  way  he  was  enabled  to  produce  a  narrative  which 
is  marvellously  accurate,  even  touching  minor  points  of  topography,  despite  the  fact 
that  the  shifting  scenes  of  his  drama  were  laid  in  another  hemisphere.  The  preface 
was  written  at  Strickenhof,  in  Livonia,  in  May  of  1788.  In  it  Mr.  Loskiel  acknowl 
edges  his  indebtedness  for  valuable  assistance  to  the  venerable  Bishop  Augustus  G. 
Spangenberg,  who  had  superintended  the  Moravian  Mission  in  the  New  World  in 
the  interval  between  1744  and  1762;  and  to  the  veteran  missionary  David  Zeis- 
berger,  at  that  time  still  in  its  service.  It  was  the  latter  who  supplied  the  larger 
portion  of  the  material  relating  to  the  history,  traditions,  manners,  and  customs  of 
the  North  American  Indians,  found  in  the  ten  chapters  Introductory  to  the  history 
of  the  Mission.  This  valuable  work  was  translated  into  English  by  the  Rev.  Chris 
tian  Ignatius  Latrobe,  of  London,  in  1793,  and  published  there,  in  1794,  by  "The 
Brethren's  Society  for  the  Furtherance  of  the  Gospel."  It  is  now  a  rare  book. 
Having  been  consecrated  a  Bishop  for  the  American  Province  of  his  Church  in  1802, 
Mr.  Loskiel  came  to  this  country,  settled  at  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  where  he  died  in  1814.] 


XXviii  INTRODUCTION. 

was  not  an  act  of  compulsion,  but  the  result  of  their  own  free 
will  and  consent ;  and  3d,  that  the  whites  were  already  in  the 
country  at  the  time  this  ceremony  took  place,  since  they  were  to 
hold  one  end  of  the  great  Peace  Belt  in  their  hands."  ]  In  the 
following  History,  which  I  have  taken  from  the  relation  of  the 
most  intelligent  and  creditable  old  Indians,  both  Delawares  and 

o 

Mohicans,  not  only  the  same  facts  will  be  found,  but  also  a  more 
minute  account  of  this  transaction ;  in  which  it  will  be  shewn, 
that  the  Dutch  not  only  were  present  at,  but  were  parties  to  it, 
that  it  was  in  this  manner  that  the  Six  Nations  were  relieved 
from  the  critical  situation  they  were  in,  at  that  very  time,  with 
regard  to  their  enemies,  the  Delawares,  Mohicans,  and  their 
connexions,  and  that  the  white  people  present  coaxed  and  per 
suaded  them  to  cause  the  hatchet  to  be  buried,  declaring  at  the 
same  time2  that  they  "  would  fall  on  those  who  should  dig  it  up 
again  ;"  which  was,  on  the  part  of  the  Hollanders,  a  declaration 
of  war  against  the  Delawares  and  their  allies,  if  they,  or  any 
of  them,  should  attempt  again  to  act  hostilely  against  the  Six 
Nations.  All  this,  according  to  the  tradition  of  the  Lenape,  was 
transacted  at  a  place,  since  called  "  Nordman's  Kill,"  a  few  miles 
from  the  spot  where  afterwards  Albany  was  built,  and  but  a 
short  time  after  the  Dutch  had  arrived  at  New  York  Island, 
probably  between  the  years  1609  and  1620. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Pyrlaeus,3  who  had  learned  the  Mohawk  Ian- 

/ l  Figurative  expression.  See  Loskiel's  History,  Part  I.  c.  10.* 
3  For  "  declaring  at  the  same  time  "  read  "  and  declared  afterwards" 
3  [John  Christopher  Pyrlaeus  was  sent  by  the  heads  of  the  Moravian  Church  at 
Herrnhut,  Saxony,  to  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  in  the  autumn  of  1741,  to  do  service  in  the 
Indian  Mission.  Having  assisted  Count  Zinzendorf,  during  his  sojourn  in  the 
Province  in  1742,  in  the  work  of  the  ministry  among  a  portion  of  the  German  popu 
lation  of  Philadelphia,  we  find  him,  in  January  of  1743,  prosecuting  the  study  of  the 
Mohawk  under  the  direction  of  Conrad  Weiser,  the  provincial  interpreter,  at  Tulpe- 
hocken,  (near  Womelsdorf,  Berks  County,  Pa.)  This  was  in  view  of  fitting  himself 
for  the  office  of  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Mission  Board  at  Bethlehem,  and  for 
the  duties  of  an  evangelist  among  the  Iroquois  stock  of  Indians,  to  whom  it  was 
purposed  by  the  Moravians  to  bring  the  Gospel.  At  the  expiration  of  three  months 
he  returned  to  Bethlehem,  and  in  the  following  June,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  who 
was  a  daughter  of  John  Stephen  Benezet,  a  well-known  merchant  of  Philadelphia, 

*  [The  passage  referred  to  by  Mr.  Heckewelder  is  quoted  in  full  by  way  of  annotation  on  a  sub- 
sequent  page.] 


INTRODUCTION.  XXl'x 

guage  of  Conrad  Weiser,  and  was  stationed  on  the  river  of  that 
name,  for  some  time  between  the  years  1742  and  1748,  has 
noted  down  in  a  large  manuscript  book,  that  his  friend  there, 
the  Mohawk  chief,  had  told  him,  that  at  a  place  about  four  miles 
from  Albany,  now  called  Nordman's  Kill,1  the  first  covenant  had 
been  made  between  the  Six  Nations  and  the  white  people; 
which  is  in  confirmation  of  the  correctness  of  the  above  tra 
dition  of  the  Mohicans.2 

This  wa£  then,  according  to  the  best  accounts  we  have,  the 
time  when  this  pretended  "  conquest "  took  place ;  and  the 
Delawares,  (as  the  Six  Nations  have  since  said)  were  by  them 
made  women.  It  was,  however,  a  conquest  of  a  singular  nature, 
effected  through  duplicity  and  intrigue,  at  a  council  fire,  not  in 
battle.  "  And,  (say  the  Delawares  and  Mohicans,  in  their  tra- 

set  out  for  the  Mohawk  country,  his  destination  being  the  Mohawk  castle  of  Cana- 
joharie.  Here  he  remained  upwards  of  two  months,  in  which  interval  of  time  he 
visited  the  remaining  Mohawk  castles,  and  by  constant  intercourse  with  the  Indians 
strove  assiduously  to  perfect  himself  in  their  language.  Such  was  his  progress  then 
and  subsequently,  that  in  1744  he  felt  himself  competent  to  impart  instruction  in  that 
important  dialect  of  the  Iroquois  to  several  of  his  brethren  at  Bethlehem,  who  were 
training  for  missionaries.  In  1748,  while  settled  at  Gnadenhutten,  on  the  Mahoning, 
(Lehighton,  Carbon  County,  Pa.,)  he  rendered  similar  service.  Meanwhile  he  had 
acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  Mohican,  and  in  1745  there  appeared  his  first  transla 
tions  of  German  hymns  into  that  tongue  —  the  beginnings  of  a  collection  for  use  in 
Divine  worship  in  the  Mission  churches.  Eight  of  the  eleven  years  of  his  stay  in 
this  country  were  mainly  spent  in  labors  of  the  kind  just  enumerated.  Having  been 
liberally  educated,  Mr.  Pyrlseus  was  well  qualified  for  the  work  in  which  he  engaged. 
Several  of  his  contributions  to  this  novel  department  of  philology,  in  manuscript,  are 
deposited  in  the  library  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society  in  Philadelphia. 
Among  these  are  essays  on  the  grammatical  structure  of  the  Iroquois  dialects,  and  a 
collection  of  notes  on  Indian  traditions.  The  former  Mr.  Heckewelder  names  on  a 
subsequent  page,  and  from  the  latter  he  makes  frequent  extracts.  In  1751  Mr.  Pyr 
lseus  sailed  for  England,  where  he  was  active  in  the  ministry  of  his  Church  until  his 
recall  to  Germany  in  1770.  He  died  at  Herrnhut  in  1785.] 

1  [Norman's  Kill,  named  after  Albert  Andriese  Bratt  De  Norman,  an  early  settler 
of  Beverwyck,  rises  in  Schenectady  County,  has  a  south-east  course  of  about  twenty- 
eight  miles,  and  empties  into  the  Hudson,  two  miles  south  of  Albany,  in  the  town 
of  Bethlehem.     In  records  of  1677  it  is  called  Bethlehem's  Kil.     The  Indian  name 
of  the  stream  was  Tawalsantha.    In  the  spring  of  1617  the  United  New  Netherlands 
Company  erected  a  fort  near  the  banks  of  Norman's  Kill,  and  in  1621  the  Dutch 
made  a  solemn  alliance  and  treaty  of  peace  with  the  Five  Nations,  near  its  mouth. — 
Munscirs  Collections  of  the  History  of  Albany.     Albany,  1870.] 

2  For  " Mohicans  "  read 


XXX  INTRODUCTION. 

dition,)  when  the  English  took  the  country  from  the  Dutche- 
maan,  (Hollanders)  they  stepped  into  the  same  alliance  with 
the  Six  Nations,  which  their  predecessors  had  established  with 
them." 

Golden,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Five  Nations,"  x  informs  us, 
page  34,  that  this  took  place  in  the  year  1664;  and  in  page  36, 
gives  us  full  proof  of  this  alliance,  by  the  following  account  — 
He  says  :  "  The  Five  Nations  being  now  amply  supplied  by  the 
English  with  fire-arms  and  ammunition,  gave  full  swing  to  their 
warlike  genius,  and  soon  resolved  to  revenge  the  affronts  they 
had  at  any  time  received  from  the  Indian  nations  that  lived  at  a 
greater  distance  from  them.  The  nearest  nations,  as  they  were 
attacked,  commonly  fled  to  those  that  were  further  off,  and  the 
Five  Nations  pursued  them.  This,  together  with  the  desire  they 
had  of  conquering,  or  ambition  of  making  all  the  nations  around 
them  their  tributaries,  or  to  make  them  acknowledge  the  Five 
Nations  to  be  so  far  their  masters,  as  to  be  absolutely  directed 
by  them  in  all  affairs  of  peace  and  war  with  their  neighbours, 
made  them  overrun  great  part  of  North  America.  They  carried 
their  arms  as  far  south  as  Carolina;  to  the  northward  of  New 
England ;  and  as  far  west  as  the  river  Mississippi ;  over  a  vast 
country,  which  extends  twelve  hundred  miles  in  length,  from 
north  to  south,  and  about  six  hundred  miles  in  breadth ;  where 
they  entirely  destroyed  many  nations,  of  whom  there  are  now 
no  accounts  remaining  among  the  English,"  &c. 

To  what  a  number  of  important  questions  would  not  the 
above  statement  give  rise  ?  But  I  will  confine  myself  to  a  few, 
and  enquire  first,  for  what  purpose  the  Five  Nations  were 
armed,  and  so  "amply  supplied  with  ammunition?"  and  sec 
ondly,  what  use  did  they  make  of  those  arms  ?  The  Delawares 

1  ["  The  History  of  the  Five  Indian  Nations  depending  on  the  Province  of  New 
York  in  America,  by  Cadwallader  Golden?'  The  first  edition  of  this  rare  book  was 
dedicated  by  the  author  to  his  Excellency,  William  Burnet,  Esq.,  and  was  printed 
and  sold  by  William  Bradford  in  New  York,  1727.  Colden  emigrated  from  Scot 
land  in  1708,  and  first  settled  in  Pennsylvania,  engaging  in  the  practice  of  medicine. 
Removing  to  New  York  in  1718,  he  was  some  time  surveyor-general,  subsequently  a 
member  of  the  King's  Council,  and  in  1761  commissioned  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the 
Province.  This  commission  he  held  at  the  time  of  his  death  at  his  seat  on  Long 
Island,  in  September  of  1776.] 


INTRODUCTION.  XXXI 

and  Mohicans  believed  that  the  white  people,  first  the  Dutch 
and  then  the  English,  did  all  that  was  in  their  power  to  make 
the  Mengwe  a  great  people,  so  that  they  might  rule  over  them 
and  all  other  nations,  and  "  that  they  had  done  what  they 
wanted  them  to  do,"  &c.  For  an  answer  to  the  second  question, 
we  have  only  to  believe  what  Golden  himself  tells  us,  of  what 
the  same  Mengwe  or  Iroquois  did,  after  having  received  arms 
and  ammunition  from  the  English,  which  it  clearly  appears  they 
could  not  have  done  before.  Now,  if  we  even  were  willing  to 
admit  that  they  had  only  gone  off,  "  to  revenge  the  affronts  they 
had  at  any  time  received  from  the  Indian  Nations,"  yet,  we 
would  be  willing  to  know,  of  what  nature  those  affronts  had 
been ;  otherwise  we  might  conclude,  that  they  were  no  other 
than  that  those  nations  had  refused  "to  become  tributary  to 
them  ;  would  not  submit  to  their  mandates,  nor  have  them  for 
their  masters ;"  and  therefore  had  beaten  them  off,  when  they 
came  into  their  country  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  them  under 
subjection,  and  perhaps  also  paid  them  a  visit  in  return,  after 
they  had  murdered  some  of  their  people. 

If  we  were  permitted  to  omit  the  words,  "  revenge  the  affronts 
they  had  received  from  other  nations,"  &c.,  we  need  not  one 
moment  be  at  a  loss  to  know  precisely  what  they  went  out  for, 
as  the  historian  himself  tells  us,  that  they,  soon  after  receiving 
fire-arms  and  ammunition,  "gave  full  swing  to  their  warlike 
genius,  and  went  off  with  a  desire  of  conquering  nations  —  of 
making  all  those  around  them  their  tributaries,  and  compelling 
them  all  to  acknowledge  the  Five  Nations  to  be  their  masters, 
and  to  be  absolutely  directed  by  them,  in  all  affairs  of  peace  and 
war."  We  then  know  with  certainty,  what  the  object  was  for 
which  they  took  the  field. 

We  are  here  also  told,  of  the  vast  tract  of  country  over  which 
the  Six  Nations  had  carried  their  arms,  subduing,  and  even  "  so 
destroying  many  nations,  that  no  account  of  them  was  now 
remaining  with  the  English!" 

In  reply  to  this  I  might  bring  forward  some  sayings  and 
assertions  of  the  Delawares  and  Mohicans,  which  would  not 
comport  with  the  above  story,  nor  apply  to  the  great  name  the 
Six  Nations  have  given  themselves,  which,  as  Golden  tells  us,  is 


XXxii  INTRODUCTION. 

Ongwe-honwe,  and  signifies  "  men  surpassing  all  others,  superior 
to  the  rest  of  mankind  :"  but  my  object  here  is  merely  to  dis 
cuss  the  fact,  whether,  previous  to  the  white  people's  coming 
into  the  country,  and  while  unsupplied  with  fire-arms,  hatchets, 
&c.,  those  Iroquois  had  done  such  wonders  among  nations  as 
they  report ;  or,  whether  all  this  was  done  since  that  time,  and 
in  consequence  of  their  being  put  into  possession  of  those 
destructive  weapons  which  they  had  not  before ;  for  how  are  we 
to  judge,  and  decide  on  the  comparative  bravery  of  two  differ 
ent  nations,  without  knowing  whether  or  not  the  combatants 
were  placed  on  an  equal  footing  with  regard  to  the  weapons 
they  used  against  each  other  ? 

I  might  ask  the  simple  question,  whether  the  Dutch,  and  after 
wards  the  English,  have  favoured  their  "  brethren,"  the  Dela- 
wares,  Mohicans,  and  other  tribes  connected  with  them,  who 
lived  between  them  and  the  Six  Nations,  and  on  the  land  which 
they  wanted  to  have,  in  the  same  manner  that  they  have 
favoured  their  enemies  ? 

Golden,  in  his  Introduction  to  the  History  of  the  Five  Nations, 
page  3,  says :  "  I  have  been  told  by  old  men  in  New  England, 
who  remembered  the  time  when  the  Mohawks  made  war  on 
their  Indians,"  (meaning  here  the  Mohicans,  or  River  Indians,  as 
they  often  were  called,)  "  that  as  soon  as  a  single  Mohawk  was 
discovered  in  the  country,  their  Indians  raised  a  cry,  from  hill 
to  hill,  a  Mohawk  /  a  Mohawk !  upon  which  they  all  fled,  like 
sheep  before  wolves,  without  attempting  to  make  the  least  resist 
ance,  whatever  odds  were  on  their  side,"  and  that,  "  the  poor 
New  England  Indians  immediately  ran  to  the  Christian  houses, 
and  the  Mohawks  often  pursued  them  so  closely,  that  they 
entered  along  with  them,  and  knocked  their  brains  out  in  the 
presence  of  the  people  of  the  house,"  &c. 

This  is  indeed  a  lamentable  story!  It  might  be  asked,  How 
could  the  white  people,  whom  those  very  Mohicans  had  hospi 
tably  welcomed,  and  permitted  to  live  with  them  on  their  land, 
suffer  an  enemy  to  come  into  the  country  to  destroy  their  bene 
factors,  without  making  any  opposition?  Why  did  these  Indians 
suffer  this  ?  Why  did  they  not  with  spirit  meet  this  enemy  ? 

The  answer  to  this  last  question  will  be  found  in  their  tra- 


INTRODUCTION.  XXxiii 

ditional  history  of  the  great  meeting  at  Nordman's  Kill,  where 
they  were  expressly  told,  after  they  had  consented  to  bury  the 
hatchet,  wherewith  they  warred  against  the  Six  Nations,  "  That 
whatsoever  nation,  (meaning  the  Mohicans  and  Delawares) 
should  dig  up  the  hatchet  again,  on  them  would  the  white 
people  fall  and  take  revenge  1" 

Thus,  then,  arms  were  put  into  the  hands  of  the  Six  Nations, 
and  with  them  the  Dutch,  and  afterwards  the  English,  sided  ; 
but  the  Delawares  and  Mohicans  were  compelled  to  remain 
unarmed,  for  fear  of  being  cut  up  by  the  white  people,  who  had 
taken  part  with  their  enemies.  May  we  not  conclude,  that  these 
poor  New  England  Indians  were  placed  between  two  fires  ? 

We  do  not,  I  believe,  find  that  in  the  then  middle  colonies, 
the  Mohawks,  or  any  of  the  Five  Nations,  had  ventured  so  far 
in  their  hostile  conduct  against  the  Delawares,  as  they  had  done 
to  the  Mohicans  of  New  England,  though  the  alliance  between 
the  Dutch  and  the  Five  Nations,  and  afterwards  between  the 
English  and  the  latter,  was  much  against  both,  and  indeed  more 
against  the  Delawares  than  the  Mohicans :  yet,  by  turning  to 
treaties  and  councils,  held  with  these  nations  between  the  years 
1740  and  1/60,  in  Pennsylvania,1  we  find  much  insolent  language, 
which  the  Iroquois  were,  I  will  say,  permitted,  but  which,  the 
people  concerned  say,  they  were  "  bid  or  hired  to  make  against 
the  Delawares,  for  the  purpose  of  stopping  their  mouths,  pre 
venting  them  from  stating  their  complaints  and  grievances,  and 
asking  redress  from  the  colonial  government." 

The  result  of  such  high  toned  language,  as  that  which  was 
made  use  of  to  the  Delawares,  by  the  Six  Nations,  at  a  council 
held  at  the  proprietors,  in  July,  1742,  and  at  other  times  after 
wards,2  might  easily  have  been  foretold.  For  although  now, 
these  defenceless  people  had  to  submit  to  such  gross  insults, 
instead  of  seeing  their  grievances  redressed,  yet  they  were  not 
ignorant  of  the  manner  in  which  they  one  day  might  take 

1  [The  proceedings  of  these  conferences  and  treaties  with  the  Indians  are  spread 
upon  the  minutes  of  the  Provincial  Council  of  Pennsylvania,  which  were  authorized 
to  be  printed  by  the  Act  of  Legislature  of  April  4th,  1837,  and  published  subse 
quently  in  seven  volumes.     They  are  known  as  "  The  Colonial  Records."] 

2  At  a  Treaty,  at  Easton,  in  July  and  November,  1756. 

3 


XXXIV  INTRODUCTION. 

revenge,  the  door  to  the  French,  who  were  enemies  to  the  Eng 
lish,  being  always  open  to  them  ;  they  had  but  to  go  "  on  one 
side  "  (as  they  expressed  themselves)  to  be  out  of  the  way  of  the 
Iroquois,  and  they  could  obtain  from  the  possessors  of  Canada, 
and  Louisiana,  all  that  they  wanted,  fire-arms,  hatchets,  scalping- 
knives,  ammunition,  &c.  They  did  so,  and  withdrew  to  the 
Ohio  country,  whither  they  were  followed  by  others  from  time 
to  time,  and  by  the  time  the  French  war  broke  out,  they  were  in 
perfect  readiness,  and  joining  the  enemies  of  Britain,  they  mur 
dered  great  numbers  of  the  defenceless  inhabitants  of  Pennsylva 
nia,  laid  the  whole  frontier  waste,  and  spread  terror  and  misery 
far  and  wide  by  the  outrages  they  committed ;  I  have  been  my 
self  a  witness  to  those  scenes,  and  to  the  distresses  of  hundreds 
of  poor  people,  only  in  this  one  quarter. 

A  work,  entitled  :  "An  Enquiry  into  the  Causes  of  the  Aliena 
tion  of  the  Delaware  and  Shawanese  Indians  from  the  British 
Interest,"  written  by  Charles  Thompson,1  Esq.,  and  printed  in 
London,  in  1759,  which  some  time  since  fell  into  my  hands, 
well  merits  to  be  read  with  attention,  on  account  of  the  correct 
ness  of  the  information  that  it  contains. 

By  this  time,  the  Delawares  were  sensible  of  the  imposition 
which  had  been  practised  upon  them.  They  saw  that  a  plan  had 
been  organised  for  their  destruction,  and  that  not  only  their  inde 
pendence,  but  their  very  existence,  was  at  stake ;  they  therefore 
took  measures  to  defend  themselves,  by  abandoning  the  system 
of  neutrality  into  which  they  had  been  insidiously  drawn. 

It  was  not  without  difficulty  that  I  obtained  from  them  these 
interesting  details,  for  they  felt  ashamed  of  their  own  conduct ; 
they  were  afraid  of  being  charged  with  cowardice,  or  at  least 
with  want  of  forethought,  in  having  acted  as  they  did,  and  not 
having  discovered  their  error  until  it  was  too  late. 

And  yet,  in  my  opinion,  those  fears  were  entirely  groundless, 
and  there  appears  nothing  in  their  whole  conduct  disparaging  to 
the  courage  and  high  sense  of  honour  of  that  brave  nation.  Let 
us  for  a  moment  place  ourselves  in  the  situation  of  the  Dela 
wares,  Mohicans,  and  the  other  tribes  connected  with  them,  at 
the  time  when  the  Europeans  first  landed  on  New  York  Island. 

1  [Should  be  Thomson.'} 


INTRODUCTION.  XXXV 

They  were  then  in  the  height  of  their  glory,  pursuing  their  suc 
cesses  against  the  Iroquois,  with  whom  they  had  long  been  at 
war.  They  were  in  possession  of  the  whole  country,  from  the 
sea  coast  to  the  Mississippi,  from  the  River  St.  Lawrence  to  the 
frontier  of  Carolina,  while  the  habitations  of  their  enemies  did 
not  extend  far  beyond  the  great  Lakes.  In  this  situation,  they 
are  on  a  sudden  checked  in  their  career,  by  a  phenomenon  they 
had  till  then  never  beheld  ;  immense  canoes  arriving  at  their 
shores,  filled  with  people  of  a  different  colour,  language,  dress, 
and  manners,  from  themselves!  In  their  astonishment  they  call 
out  to  one  another  :  "  Behold  !  the  Gods  are  come  to  visit  us  !  "  l 
They  at  first  considered  these  astonishing  beings,  as  messengers 
of  peace,  sent  from  the  abode  of  the  Great  Spirit,  and  therefore, 
employed  their  time  in  preparing  and  making  sacrifices  to  that 
Great  Being  who  had  so  highly  honoured  them.  Lost  in 
amazement,  fond  of  the  enjoyment  of  this  new  spectacle,  and 
anxious  to  know  the  result,  they  were  unmindful  of  those  mat 
ters  which  hitherto  had  taken  up  their  minds,  and  had  been  the 
object  of  their  pursuits ;  they  thought  of  nothing  else  but  the 
wonders  which  now  struck  their  eyes,  and  their  sharpest  wits 
were  constantly  employed  in  endeavouring  to  divine  this  great 
mystery  !  Such  is  the  manner  in  which  they  relate  that  event, 
the  strong  impression  of  which  is  not  yet  obliterated  from  their 
minds, 

It  was  the  Delawarcs  who  first  received  and  welcomed  these 
new  guests  on  New  York  Island  ;  the  Mohicans  who  inhabited 
the  whole  of  the  North  River  above,  on  its  eastern  side,  were 
sent  for  to  participate  in  the  joy  which  was  felt  on  being 
honoured  by  such  visitants.  Their  tradition  of  this  event  is 
clear  and  explicit.  None  of  the  enemy,  say  they,  (meaning  the 
Five  Nations2)  were  present. 

It  may  possibly  be  asked,  how  the  Dutch  could  favour  the 
Five  Nations  so  much,  when  none  of  them  were  present  at  the 
meetings  which  took  place  on  their  arrival  in  America  ?  how 
they  came  to  abandon  their  first  friends,  and  take  part  against 

^oskiel's  History,  Part  I.,  ch.  10. 

2  The  Iroquois  were  at  that  time  a  confederacy  of  only  Five  Nations ;  they  became 
Six  afterwards  when  they  were  joined  by  the  Tuscaroras. 


XXXvi  INTRODUCTION. 

them  with  strangers?  and  how  the  Dutch  became  acquainted 
with  those  strangers?  I  shall  simply,  in  answer,  give  the  tradi 
tional  accounts  of  the  Mohicans  in  their  own  words :  "  The 
Dutch  Traders  (say  they)  penetrating  into  our  country,  high  up 
the  Mohicanichtuck  (the  Hudson  River),  fell  in  with  some  of 
the  Mingo  warriors,  who  told  them  that  they  were  warring 
against  the  very  people,  (the  Delawares  and  Mohicans)  who  had 
so  kindly  received  them ;  they  easily  foresaw,  that  they  could 
not  carry  on  their  trade  with  their  old  friends,  while  this  was  the 
case  ;  neither  would  the  Mingoes  suffer  them  to  trade  with  their 
enemies,  unless  they  (the  Dutch)  assisted  them  in  bringing 
about  a  peace  between  them.  They  also  made  these  traders 
sensible,  that  they  at  that  time,  were  at  war  with  a  people  of 
the  same  colour  with  theirs  (meaning  the  French),  who  had,  by 
means  of  a  very  large  river  which  lay  to  the  North,  come  into 
the  country ;  that  they  (the  Mengwe)  were  the  greatest  and 
most  powerful  of  all  the  Indian  nations;  that  if  the  people  they 
belonged  to,  were  friends  to  their  enemies,  and  sided  with  them 
in  their  wars,  they  would  turn  their  whole  force  against  them  ; 
but  if,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Dutch  would  join  them  in  effecting 
a  peace  with  them,  so  that  their  hatchet  should  be  buried 
forever,  they  would  support  and  protect  them  in  all  their  under 
takings;1  that  these  traders  being  frightened,  had  returned 
home,  and  having  stated  the  matter  to  their  chief  (the  Dutch 
Governor),  a  vessel  soon  after  went  high  up  the  river  to  an  ap 
pointed  place,  where  meeting  with  the  Maqua  (Five  Nations),  a 
conference  was  held,  at  which  the  Dutch  promised  them,  that 
they  would  use  their  best  endeavours  to  persuade  their  enemies 
to  give  up  the  hatchet  to  be  buried,  which,  some  time  afterwards, 
actually  took  place." 

These  are  (as  they  say)  the  circumstances  which  led  to  the 
league  which  was  afterwards  established  between  the  white 
people  and  the  Five  Nations,  which  was  the  cause  of  much  dis 
satisfaction,  injustice,  and  bloodshed,  and  which  would  not  have 
taken  place,  if  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  different  nations 

1  Meaning,  that  the  Five  Nations  would  assist  the  white  people  in  getting  the 
country  of  their  enemies,  the  Delawares,  &c.,  to  themselves. 


INTRODUCTION.  XXXVli 

and  tribes  had  been  respected,  and  each  left  to  act  for  itself, 
especially  in  selling  their  lands  to  the  Europeans. 

Having  seen  how  the  Five,  afterwards  Six  Nations,  rose  to 
power,  we  have  next  to  state  by  what  means  they  lost  the 
ascendancy  which  they  had  thus  acquired. 

The  withdrawing  of  the  principal  part  of  the  Delawares,  and 
the  Shawanos,  from  the  Atlantic  coast,  between  the  years  1740 
and  1760,  afforded  them  an  opportunity  of  consulting  with  the 
western  tribes,  on  the  manner  of  taking  revenge  on  the  Iroquois 
for  the  many  provocations,  wrongs  and  insults  they  had  received 
from  them ;  when  ten  nations  immediately  entered  into  an  alli 
ance  for  that  purpose,  the  French  having  promised  to  assist 
them.1  In  the  year  1756,  they  agreed  to  move  on  in  detached 
bodies,  as  though  they  meant  to  attack  the  English,  with  whom 
they  and  the  French  were  then  at  war,  and  then  turn  suddenly 
on  the  Six  Nations  and  make  a  bold  stroke.  Though,  for 
various  reasons,  their  designs  could  not  at  that  time  be  carried 
into  effect,  yet  the)'  did  not  lose  sight  of  the  object,  waiting  only 
for  a  proper  opportunity. 

It  would,  however,  have  been  next  to  impossible,  under 
existing  circumstances,  and  while  the  Six  Nations  were  sup 
ported  by  such  a  powerful  ally  as  the  English,  for  the  Dela 
wares  and  their  allies,  to  subdue,  or  even  effectually  to  chastise 
them.  These  Nations,  however,  at  the  commencement  of  a 
war  between  the  English  nation  and  the  Colonies,  were  become 
so  far  independent,  that  such  of  them  as  lived  remote  from  the 
British  stations  or  garrisons,  or  were  not  immediately  under 
their  eye,  were  at  full  liberty  to  side  with  whom  they  pleased ; 
and  though  the  Six  Nations  attempted  to  dictate  to  the  Western 
Delawares,  what  side  they  should  take,  their  spirited  chief, 
Captain  White  Eyes,  did  not  hesitate  to  reply,  in  the  name  of 
his  nation  :  "  that  he  should  do  as  he  pleased;  that  he  wore  no 
petticoats,  as  they  falsely  pretended ;  he  was  no  woman,  but  a 
man,  and  they  should  find  him  to  act  as  such."  That  this  brave 
chief  was  in  earnest,  was  soon  after  verified,  by  a  party  of  Dela 
wares  joining  the  American  army. 

In  1781,  when  almost  all  the  Indian  nations  were  in  the  British 

1  Loskiel,  Part  I.,  ch.  10. 


XXXvill  INTRODUCTION. 

interest,  except  a  part  of  the  Delawares,  among  whom  were  the 
Christian  Indians  between  2  and  300  souls  in  number,1  the  British 
Indian  agent  at  Detroit  applied  to  the  great  council  of  the  Six 
Nations  at  Niagara,  to  remove  those  Christian  Indians  out  of 
the  country :  the  Iroquois  upon  this  sent  a  war  message  to  the 
Chippeways  and  Ottawas,2  to  this  effect :  "  We  herewith  make 
you  a  present  of  the  Christian  Indians,  to  make  soup  of;3' 
which  in  the  war  language  of  the  Indians,  is  saying:  "We 
deliver  these  people  to  you  to  be  murdered  !  "  These  brave 
Indians  sent  the  message  immediately  back  again  with  the 
reply  :  "  We  have  no  cause  for  doing  this  !  " 

The  same  message  being  next  sent  to  the  Wyandots,  they 
likewise  disobeyed  their  orders,  and  did  not  make  the  least 
attempt  to  murder  those  innocent  people.  The  Iroquois,  there 
fore,  were  completely  at  a  loss  how  to  think  and  act,  seeing  that 
their  orders  were  every  where  disregarded. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  revolutionary  war,  they  had  the 
mortification  to  see,  that  the  trade  which  they  had  hitherto  car 
ried  on,  and  to  them  was  so  agreeable  and  profitable,  that  of 
selling  to  the  English  the  land  of  other  nations,  to  which  they 
had  no  possible  claim,  was  at  once  and  forever  put  an  end  to  by 
the  liberal  line  of  conduct  which  the  American  Government 
adopted  with  the  Indian  Nations,  leaving  each  at  liberty  to  sell 
its  own  lands,  reserving,  only  to  themselves  the  right  of  pur 
chase,  to  the  exclusion  of  foreigners  of  every  description. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  bond  of  connexion  which  subsisted 
between  these  Six  Nations,  if  it  was  not  entirely  broken,  yet 
was  much  obstructed,  by  a  separation  which  took  place  at  the 
close  of  that  war,  when  a  part,  and  the  most  active  body  of 
them,  retired  into  Canada.  No  nation  then  any  more  regarded 
their  commands,  nor  even  their  advice,  when  it  did  not  accord 
with  their  will  and  inclination  ;  all  which  became  evident  during 

1  [The  Indian  converts  attached  to  the  Moravian  Mission,  whom  Mr.  Heckewelder 
invariably  designates  "  Christian  Indians  "  throughout  his  history.  The  Moravian 
Indians  at  this  date  were  settled  with  their  missionaries  in  three  towns  on  the  Tus- 
carawas  branch  of  the  Muskingum  (now  the  Tuscarawas  River),  all  within  the 
limits  of  the  present  Tuscarawas  County,  Ohio.] 

2Loskiel,  Part  III.,  ch.  9. 

3  The  proper  name  is  Wtdwas,  the  W  is  whistled. 


INTRODUCTION.  XXXIX 

the  whole  time  the  Western  Nations  were  at  war  with  the  United 
States,  and  until  the  peace  made  with  them  in  I/95-1 

At  last,  being  sensible  of  their  humbled  situation,  and  prob 
ably  dreading  the  consequence  of  their  former  insolent  conduct 
to  the  other  Indian  Nations,  and  principally  the'  Delawares, 
whom  they  had  so  long  and  so  much  insulted,  were  they  not  to 
make  some  amends  for  all  this  contumely  ?  They  came  forward, 
at  the  critical  moment,  just  previous  to  the  Treaty  concluded  by 
General  Wayne,  and  formally  declared  the  Delaware  nation  to 
be  no  longer  Women,  but  MEN. 

I  hope  to  be  believed  in  the  solemn  assertion  which  I  now 
make :  That  in  all  that  I  have  written  on  the  subject  of  the  his 
tory  and  politics  of  the  Indian  Nations,  I  have  neither  been 
influenced  by  partiality  for  the  one,  or  undue  prejudice  against 
the  other,  but  having  had  the  best  opportunities  of  obtaining 
from  authentic  sources,  such  information  in  matters  of  fact,  as 
has  enabled  me  to  make  up  my  mind  on  the  subject,  I  have 
taken  the  liberty  of  expressing  my  opinion  as  I  have  honestly 
formed  it,  leaving  the  reader,  however,  at  liberty  to  judge  and 
decide  for  himself  as  he  may  deem  most  proper. 

I  wish  once  more  to  observe,  that  in  this  history  it  is  princi 
pally  meant  to  shew,  rather  what  the  Indians  of  this  country 
were  previous  to  the  white  people's  arrival,  than  what  they  now 
are ;  for  now,  the  two  great  nations,  the  Iroquois  and  the  Dela 
wares,  are  no  longer  the  same  people  that  they  formerly  were. 
The  former,  who,  as  their  rivals  would  assert,  were  more  like 
beasts  than  human  beings,  and  made  intrigue  their  only  study, 
have,  by  their  intercourse  with  the  whites,  become  an  industri 
ous  and  somewhat  civilised  people ;  at  least  many  of  them  are 
so,  which  is  probably  owing  to  their  having  been  permitted  to 
live  so  long,  (indeed,  for  more  than  a  century)  in  the  same  dis- 

1  [In  the  summer  of  1794,  Gen.  Wayne  moved  an  army  into  the  Ohio  country, 
and  on  the  2Oth  of  August  defeated  the  confederated  Indians  near  the  rapids  of  the 
Maumee,  or  Miami  of  the  Lake.  The  result  of  this  campaign  was  a  treaty  of  peace, 
which  was  ratified  at  Greenville,  the  present  county  seat  of  Darke  County,  Ohio,  in 
August  of  1795,  between  the  United  States  Government,  represented  by  Wayne,  and 
the  Shawanese,  Delawares,  Wyandots,  Ottawas,  Potawattomies,  Miamis  and  smaller 
tribes,  at  which  treaty  about  two-thirds  of  the  present  state  of  Ohio  was  ceded  to 
the  United  States.] 


Xl  INTRODUCTION 

trict  of  country,  and  while  the  British  possessed  it,  under  the 
protection  of  the  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs ;  while  the 
latter  have  always  been  oppressed  and  persecuted,  disturbed  and 
driven  from  place  to  place,  scarcely  enjoying  themselves  at  any 
place  for  a  dozen  years  at  a  time ;  having  constantly  the  lowest 
class  of  whites  for  their  neighbours,  and  having  no  opportunity 
of  displaying  their  true  character  and  the  talents  that  nature 
had  bestowed  upon  them. 

My  long  residence  among  those  nations  in  the  constant  habit 
of  unrestrained  familiarity,  has  enabled  me  to  know  them  well, 
and  made  me  intimately  acquainted  with  the  manners,  customs, 
character  and  disposition  of  those  men  of  nature,  when  uncor- 
rupted  by  European  vices.  Of  these,  I  think  I  could  draw  a 
highly  interesting  picture,  if  I  only  possessed  adequate  powers 
of  description :  -but  the  talent  of  writing  is  not  to  be  acquired  in 
the  wilderness,  among  savages.  I  have  felt  it,  however,  to  be  a 
duty  incumbent  upon  me  to  make  the  attempt,  and  I  have  done 
it  in  the  following  pages,  with  a  rude  but  faithful  pencil.  I  have 
spent  a  great  part  of  my  life  among  those  people,  and  have  been 
treated  by  them  with  uniform  kindness  and  hospitality.  I  have 
witnessed  their  virtues  and  experienced  their  goodness.  I  owe 
them  a  debt  of  gratitude,  which  I  cannot  acquit  better  than  by 
presenting  to  the  world  this  plain  unadorned  picture,  which  I 
have  drawn  in  the  spirit  of  candour  and  truth.  Alas  !  in  a  few 
years,  perhaps,  they  will  have  entirely  disappeared  from  the  face 
of  the  earth,  and  all  that  will  be  remembered  of  them  will  be 
that  they  existed  and  were  numbered  among  the  barbarous 
tribes  that  once  inhabited  this  vast  continent.  At  least,  let  it 
not  be  said,  that  among  the  whole  race  of  white  Christian  men, 
not  one  single  individual  could  be  found,  who,  rising  above  the 
cloud  of  prejudice  with  which  the  pride  of  civilisation  has  sur 
rounded  the  original  inhabitants  of  this  land,  would  undertake 
the  task  of  doing  justice  to  their  many  excellent  qualities,  and 
raise  a  small  frail  monument  to  their  memory. 

I  shall  conclude  with  a  few  necessary  remarks  for  the  infor 
mation  of  the  reader. 

Lenni  Lcnape  being  the  national  and  proper  name  of  the 
people  we  call  "  Delawares,"  I  have  retained  this  name,  or  for 


INTRODUCTION.  xli 

brevity's  sake,  called  them  simply  Lenape,  as  they  do  themselves 
in  most  instances.  Their  name  signifies  "  original  people"  a  race 
of  human  beings  who  are  the  same  that  they  were  in  the  begin 
ning,  unchanged  and  unmixed} 

These  people  (the  Lenni  Lenape)  are  known  and  called  by 
all  the  western,  northern,  and  some  of  the  southern  nations,  by 
the  name  of  Wapanachki,  which  the  Europeans  have  corrupted 
into  Apenaki,  Openagi,  Abenaquis?  and  Abenakis?  All  these 
names,  however  differently  written,  and  improperly  understood 
by  authors,  point  to  one  and  the  same  people,  the  Lenape,  who 
are  by  this  compound  word,  called  "  people  at  the  rising  of  the 
Sun,"  or  as  we  would  say,  Ea stlanders ;  and  are  acknowledged 
by  near  forty  Indian  tribes,  whom  we  call  nations,  as  being 
their  grandfathers.  All  these  nations,  derived  from  the  same 
stock,  recognise  each  other  as  Wapanachki,  which  among  them 
is  a  generic  name. 

The  name  "  Delawares"  which  we  give  to  these  people,  is 
unknown  in  their  language,  and  I  well  remember  the  time  when 
they  thought  the  whites  had  given  it  to  them  in  derision ;  but 
they  were  reconciled  to  it,  on  being  told  that  it  was  the  name  of 
a  great  white  chief,  Lord  de  la  War,  which  had  been  given  to 
them  and  their  river.  As  they  are  fond  of  being  named  after 
distinguished  men,  they  were  rather  pleased,  considering  it  as  a 
compliment. 

The  Mahicanni  have  been  called  by  so  many  different  names,4 
that  I  was  at  a  loss  which  to  adopt,  so  that  the  reader  might 
know  what  people  were  meant.  Loskiel  calls  them  "  Mohicans," 
which  is  nearest  to  their  real  name  Mahicanni,  which,  of  course, 
I  have  adopted. 

The  name  "  Nanticokes  "  I  have  left  as  generally  used,  though 

• 

1  [The  missionary  David  Zeisberger,  in  a  collection  of  Delaware  vocables  incor 
porated  in  "  An  Essay  of  a  Delaware  and  English  Spelling  Book  for  the  use  of  the 
Schools  of  the  Christian  Indians  on  the  Muskingum  River"  printed  at  Philadelphia, 
by  Henry  Miller,  in  1776,  defines  Lennilenape,  "  Indians  of  the  same  nation."] 

2  Golden. 

3  La  Hontan. 

4  The  Dutch  called  them  Mahikanders ;   the  French  Mourigans,  and  Mahingans; 
the  English,  Mohiccons,  Mohuccans,  Mohegans,  Muhheekanew,  Schatikooks,  River 
Indians. 


Xlii  INTRODUCTION. 

properly  it  should  be  Ne'ntico,  or  after  the  English  pronunciation 
Nantico. 

The  "Canai"  I  call  by  their  proper  name.  I  allude  here  to 
those  people  we  call  Canals,  Conois,  Conoys,  Canaways,  Kanha- 
was,  Canawese. 

With  regard  to  the  Five,  or  Six  Nations,  I  have  called  them  by 
different  names,  such  as  are  most  common,  and  well  understood. 
The  Lenape  (Delawares)  are  never  heard  to  say  "  Six  Nations"  and 
it  is  a  rare  thing  to  hear  these  people  named  by  them  otherwise 
than  Mcngive ;  the  Mahicanni  call  them  Maqua,  and  even  most 
white  people  call  them  Mingoes.  When  therefore  I  have  said 
the  Five  or  Six  Nations,  I  have  only  used  our  own  mode  of 
speaking,  not  that  of  the  Indians,  who  never  look  upon  them  as 
having  been  so  many  nations ;  but  divisions,  and  tribes,  who,  as 
united,  have  become  a  nation.  Thus,  when  the  Lenape  (Dela 
wares)  happen  to  name  them  as  one  body,  the  word  they  make 
use  of  implies  "  the  five  divisions  together,  or  united,"  as  will  be 
seen  in  another  place  of  this  work.  I  call  them  also  Iroquois, 
after  the  French  and  some  English  writers. 

The  Wyandots,  or  Wyondots,  are  the  same  whom  the  French 
call  Hurons,  and  sometimes  Guyandots.  Father  Sagard,  a  French 
Missionary,  who  lived  among  them  in  the  i/th  century,  and  has 
written  an  account  of  his  mission,  and  a  kind  of  dictionary 
of  their  language,  says  their  proper  name  is  Ahouandate,  from 
whence  it  is  evident  that  the  English  appellation  Wyandots  has 
been  derived. 

There  being  so  many  words  in  the  language  of  the  Lenape 
and  their  kindred  tribes,  the  sound  of  which  cannot  well  be 
represented  according  to  the  English  pronunciation,  I  have  in 
general  adopted  for  them  the  German  mode  of  spelling.  The  ch, 
particularly  before  a  consonant,  is  a  strong  guttural,  and  unless 
an  Englishman  has  the  use  of  the  Greek  x,  he  will  not  be  able  to 
pronounce  it,  as  in  the  words  Chasquem  (Indian  corn),  CJieltol 
(many),  dies  (a  skin),  Chanchschisis  (an  old  woman),  and  a  great 
many  more.  Sometimes,  indeed,  in  the  middle  of  a  word  sub 
stitutes  may  be  found  which  may  do,  as  in  the  word  Nimachtak 
(brethren),  which  might  be  written  Nemanghtok,  but  this  will 
seldom  answer.  This  is  probably  the  reason  that  most  of  the 


INTRODUCTION.  xliii 

English   authors  have  written  Indian  words  so  incorrectly,  far 
more  so  than  French  authors. 

The  Delawares  have  neither  of  the  letters  R,  F,  nor  V,  in 
their  language,  though  they  easily  learn  to  pronounce  them. 
They  have  a  consonant  peculiar  to  them  and  other  Indians, 
which  is  a  sibilant,  and  which  we  represent  by  W.  It  is  pro 
duced  by  a  soft  whistling,  and  is  not  unpleasant  to  the  ear, 
although  it  comes  before  a  consonant.  It  is  not  much  unlike 
the  English  sound  wh  in  what,  but  not  so  round  or  full,  and 
rather  more  whistled.  W  before  a  vowel  is  pronounced  as  in 
English. 


PART   I. 


HISTORY,  MANNERS,  AND  CUSTOMS 


OF 


THE  INDIAN  NATIONS, 

WHO  ONCE  INHABITED  PENNSYLVANIA  AND 
THE  NEIGHBOURING  STATES. 


xlv 


(NOTE.—  In  annotating  this  work,  the  editor  consulted,  among  other  authorities, 
The  Life  of  John  Heckewelder,  by  the  Rev.  Edward  Rondthaler,  Heckewelder 's  Nar 
rative  of  the  Mission  of  the  United  Brethren  among  the  Delaware  and  Mohegan 
Indians,  History  of  the  Mission  of  the  United  Brethren  among  the  Indians  in  North 
America,  The  Life  and  Times  of  David  Zeisberger,  Memorials  of  the  Moravian 
Church,  The  Transactions  of  the  Moravian  Historical  Society,  The  Moravians  in 
New  York  and  Connectictit,  and  ButterfielcP s  Crawford's  Campaign  against  San- 
dusky. 

He  omitted  to  state,  in  the  course  of  the  introductory  biographical  sketch  of  the 
missionary,  that  his  Account  of  the  History,  Manners,  and  Customs  of  Indian  Nations 
has  been  translated  into  both  French  and  German.  The  French  translation  was 
published  at  Paris,  in  1822;  it  is  entitled,  "  Histoire,  Mceurs  et  Continues  des 
Nations  Indiennes  qui  habitaient  autrefois  la  Pennsylvanie  et  les  Etats  voisins  ;  par 
le  Reverend  Jean  Heckewelder,  Missionnaire  Morave,  traduit  de  r Anglais,  par  le 
Chevalier  Du  Ponceau?'  The  German  translation,  published  at  Gottingen  in  1821, 
is  entitled,  "  Johann  Heckewelder' s  evangelischen  Predigers  zu  Bethlehem,  Nach- 
richt  von  der  Geschichtc,  den  Sitten  ttnd  Gebrfaichen  der  Indianischen  Volkerschaften, 
welche  ehemals  Pennsylvanien  und  die  benachbarten  Staaten  bewohnten.  Ans  dem 
Englischen  ilbersetzt  und  mit  den  Angaben  anderer  Schriftsteller  uber  eben  dieselben 
Gegenstdnde  (Carver,  Loskiel,  Ling,  Volney],  vermchrt  von  Fr.  Hesse,  evangelischen 
Prcdiger  zu  Nienburg.  Nebst  einem  die  Glaubwiirdigkeit  tmd  den  anthropologischen 
Werth  der  Nachrichten  Heckewelder 's  betreffenden  Zusatze  von  G.  E.  Schuhe."} 


xlvi 


HISTORY,  MANNERS,  AND  CUSTOMS 

OF  THE 

INDIAN   NATIONS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

HISTORICAL   TRADITIONS   OF   THE   INDIANS. 

|HE  Lenni  Lenape  (according  to  the  traditions  handed 
down  to  them  by  their  ancestors)  resided  many  hun 
dred  years  ago,  in  a  very  distant  country  in  the 
western  part  of  the  American  continent.  For  some 
reason,  which  I  do  not  find  accounted  for,  they  determined  on 
migrating  to  the  eastward,  and  accordingly  set  out  together  in  a 
body.  After  a  very  long  journey,  and  many  nights'  encamp 
ments1  by  the  way,  they  at  length  arrived  on  the  Names  si  Sipit? 
where  they  fell  in  with  the  Mengwe,3  who  had  likewise  emi 
grated  from  a  distant  country,  and  had  struck  upon  this  river 
somewhat  higher  up.  Their  object  was  the  same  with  that  of 
the  Delawares ;  they  were  proceeding  on  to  the  eastward,  until 
they  should  find  a  country  that  pleased  them.  The  spies  which 
the  Lenape  had  sent  forward  for  the  purpose  of  reconnoitring, 

1  "  Night's  encampment"  is  a  halt  of  one  year  at  a  place. 

2  The  Mississippi,  or  River  of  Fish ;  Namces,  a  Fish;  Sifiu,  a  River. 

3  The  Iroquois,  or  Five  Nations. 

47 


48  HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

had  long  before  their  arrival  discovered  that  the  country  east  of 
the  Mississippi  was  inhabited  by  a  very  powerful  nation,  who 
had  many  large  towns  built  on  the  great  rivers  flowing  through 
their  land.  Those  people  (as  I  was  told)  called  themselves 
Talligeu  or  Talligewi.  Colonel  John  Gibson,1  however,  a  gentle 
man  who  has  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Indians,  and  speaks 
several  of  their  languages,  is  of  opinion  that  they  were  not 
called  Talligewi,  but  Alligewi,  and  it  would  seem  that  he  is 
right,  from  the  traces  of  their  name  which  still  remain  in  the 
country,  the  Allegheny  river  and  mountains  having  indubitably 
been  named  after  them.  The  Delawares  still  call  the  former 
Alligeivi  Sipu,  the  River  of  the  Alligewi.  We  have  adopted,  I 
know  not  for  what  reason,  its  Iroquois  name,  Ohio,  which  the 
French  had  literally  translated  into  La  Belle  Riviere,  The  Beau 
tiful  River.2  A  branch  of  it,  however,  still  retains  the  ancient 
name  Allegheny. 

Many  wonderful  things  are  told  of  this  famous  people.  They 
are  said  to  have  been  remarkably  tall  and  stout,  and  there  is  a 
tradition  that  there  were  giants  among  them,  people  of  a  much 
larger  size  than  the  tallest  of  the  Lenape.  It  is  related  that  they 
had  built  to  themselves  regular  fortifications  or  entrenchments, 
from  whence  they  would  sally  out,  but  were  generally  repulsed. 
I  have  seen  many  of  the  fortifications  said  to  have  been  built  by 

1  [Col.  John  Gibson,  to  whom  Mr.  Heckewelder  frequently  alludes,  was  born  at 
Lancaster,  Pa.,  in  1740.     At  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  made  his  first  campaign  under 
Gen.  Forbes,  in  the  expedition  which  resulted  in  the  acquisition  of  Fort  Du  Quesne 
from  the  French.    At  the  peace  of  1763  he  settled  at  that  post  (Fort  Pitt)  as  a  trader. 
Some  time  after  this,  on  the  resumption  of  hostilities  with  the  savages,  he  was  cap 
tured  by  some  Indians,  among  whom   he   lived   several  years,  and   thus  became 
familiar  with  their  language,  manners,  customs,  and  traditions.     In  the  expedition 
against  the  Shawanese  under  Lord  Dunmore,  the  last  royal  governor  of  Virginia,  in 
1774)  Gibson  played  a  conspicuous  part.     On  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolutionary 
war,  he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  one  of  the  Continental  regiments  raised 
in  Virginia,  and  served  with  the  army  at  New  York  and  in  the  retreat  through  New 
Jersey.     He  was  next  employed  in  the  Western  department,  serving  under  Gen. 
Mclntosh  in  1778,  and  under  Gen.  Irvine  in  1782.    At  one  time  he  was  in  command 
at  Pittsburgh.    In  1800  Col.  Gibson  was  appointed  Secretary  and  acting  Governor  of 
the  territory  of  Indiana,  a  position  which  he  filled  for  a  second  time  between  1811 
and  1813.    Subsequently  he  was  Associate  Judge  of  Allegheny  County,  Pa.    He  died 
near  Pittsburgh  in  1822.    He  was  an  uncle  of  the  late  John  B.  Gibson,  Chief  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania  between  1827  and  1851.] 

2  Loskiel's  History  of  the  Mission  of  the  United  Brethren,  Part  L,  ch.  i. 


HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS.  49 

them,  two  of  which,  in  particular,  were  remarkable.  One  of 
them  was  near  the  mouth  of  the  river  Huron,  which  empties 
itself  into  the  Lake  St.  Clair,  on  the  north  side  of  that  lake,  at 
the  distance  of  about  20  miles  N.  E.  of  Detroit.  This  spot  of 
ground  was,  in  the  year  1786,  owned  and  occupied  by  a  Mr. 
Tucker.  The  other  works,  properly  entrenchments,  being  walls 
or  banks  of  earth  regularly  thrown  up,  with  a  deep  ditch  on  the 
outside,  were  on  the  Huron  river,  east  of  the  Sandusky,  about 
six  or  eight  miles  from  Lake  Erie.  Outside  of  the  gateways  of 
each  of  these  two  entrenchments,  which  lay  within  a  mile  of 
each  other,  were  a  number  of  large  flat  mounds,  in  which,  the 
Indian  pilot  said,  were  buried  hundreds  of  the  slain  Talligewi, 
whom  I  shall  hereafter  with  Colonel  Gibson  call  Alligeiui.  Of 
these  entrenchments,  Mr.  Abraham  Steiner,  who  was  with  me 
at  the  time  when  I  saw  them,  gave  a  very  accurate  description, 
which  was  published  at  Philadelphia,  in  1789  or  1790,  in  some 
periodical  work  the  name  of  which  I  cannot  at  present  remember.1 
When  the  Lenape  arrived  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi, 
they  sent  a  message  to  the  Alligewi  to  request  permission  to 
settle  themselves  in  their  neighbourhood.  This  was  refused 
them,  but  they  obtained  leave  to  pass  through  the  country  and 
seek  a  settlement  farther  to  the  eastward.  They  accordingly 
began  to  cross  the  Namsesi  Sipu,  when  the  Alligewi,  seeing  that 
their  numbers  were  so  very  great,  and  in  fact  they  consisted  of 
many  thousands,  made  a  furious  attack  on  those  who  had 
crossed,  threatening  them  all  with  destruction,  if  they  dared  to 
persist  in  coming  over  to  their  side  of  the  river.  Fired  at  the 
treachery  of  these  people,  and  the  great  loss  of  men  they  had 
sustained,  and  besides,  not  being  prepared  for  a  conflict,  the 
Lenape  consulted  on  what  was  to  be  done ;  whether  to  retreat 
in  the  best  manner  they  could,  or  try  their  strength,  and  let  the 
enemy  see  that  they  were  not  cowards,  but  men,  and  too  high- 
minded  to  suffer  themselves  to  be  driven  off  before  they  had 

1  [In  1789  Mr.  Heckewelder,  accompanied  by  Abraham  Steiner,  (subsequently  a 
missionary  to  the  Cherokees  of  Georgia,)  visited  the  mission  at  New  Salem,  on  the 
Petquotting,  (now  the  Huron,)  in  Erie  County,  Ohio,  on  business  relating  to  the 
survey  of  a  tract  of  land  on  the  Tuscarawas,  which  Congress  had  conveyed  to  the 
Moravians  in  trust  for  their  Indians.  This  was  to  indemnify  them  for  losses  incurred 
at  their  settlements  during  the  border-war  of  the  Revolution.] 
4 


50  HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

made  a  trial  of  their  strength,  and  were  convinced  that  the 
enemy  was  too  powerful  for  them.  The  Mengwe,  who  had 
hitherto  been  satisfied  with  being  spectators  from  a  distance, 
offered  to  join  them,  on  condition  that,  after  conquering  the 
country,  they  should  be  entitled  to  share  it  with  them ;  their 
proposal  was  accepted,  and  the  resolution  was  taken  by  the  two 
nations,  to  conquer  or  die. 

Having  thus  united  their  forces,  the  Lenape  and  Mengwe 
declared  war  against  the  Alligewi,  and  great  battles  were  fought, 
in  which  many  warriors  fell  on  both  sides.  The  enemy  fortified 
their  large  towns  and  erected  fortifications,  especially  on  large 
rivers,  and  near  lakes,  where  they  were  successively  attacked 
and  sometimes  stormed  by  the  allies.  An  engagement  took 
place  in  which  hundreds  fell,  who  were  afterwards  buried  in 
holes  or  laid  together  in  heaps  and  covered  over  with  earth. 
No  quarter  was  given,  so  that  the  Alligewi,  at  last,  finding  that 
their  destruction  was  inevitable  if  they  persisted  in  their  obsti 
nacy,  abandoned  the  country  to  the  conquerors,  and  fled  down 
the  Mississippi  river,  from  whence  they  never  returned.  The 
war  which  was  carried  on  with  this  nation,  lasted  many  years, 
during  which  the  Lenape  lost  a  great  number  of  their  warriors, 
while  the  Mengwe  would  always  hang  back  in  the  rear,  leaving 
them  to  face  the  enemy.  In  the  end,  the  conquerors  divided  the 
country  between  themselves ;  the  Mengwe  made  choice  of  the 
lands  in  the  vicinity  of  the  great  lakes,  and  on  their  tributary 
streams,  and  the  Lenape  took  possession  of  the  country  to  the 
south.  For  a  long  period  of  time,  some  say  many  hundred 
years,  the  two  nations  resided  peaceably  in  this  country,  and 
increased  very  fast;  some  of  their  most  enterprising  huntsmen 
and  warriors  crossed  the  great  swamps,1  and  falling  on  streams 
running  to  the  eastward,  followed  them  down  to  the  great  Bay 
River,2  thence  into  the  Bay  itself,  which  we  call  Chesapeak.  As 
they  pursued  their  travels,  partly  by  land  and  partly  by  water, 
sometimes  near  and  at  other  times  on  the  great  Saltwater  Lake, 
as  they  call  the  Sea,  they  discovered  the  great  River,  which  we 
call  the  Delaware;  and  thence  exploring  still  eastward,  the 

1  The  Glades,  that  is  to  say  that  they  crossed  the  mountains. 

2  Meaning  the  river  Susquehannah,  which  they  call  "  the  great  Bay  River."  from 
where  the  west  branch  falls  into  the  main  stream. 


HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS.  51 

Scheyichbi  country,  now  named  New  Jersey,  they  arrived  at 
another  great  stream,  that  which  we  call  the  Hudson  or  North 
River.  Satisfied  with  what  they  had  seen,  they,  (or  some  of 
them)  after  a  long  absence,  returned  to  their  nation  and  reported 
the  discoveries  they  had  made ;  they  described  the  country  they 
had  discovered,  as  abounding  in  game  and  various  kinds  of 
fruits ;  and  the  rivers  and  bays,  with  fish,  tortoises,  &c.,  together 
with  abundance  of  water-fowl,  and  no  enemy  to  be  dreaded. 
They  considered  the  event  as  a  fortunate  one  for  them,  and  con 
cluding  this  to  be  the  country  destined  for  them  by  the  Great 
Spirit,  they  began  to  emigrate  thither,  as  yet  but  in  small  bodies, 
so  as  not  to  be  straitened  for  want  of  provisions  by  the  way, 
some  even  laying  by  for  a  whole  year ;  at  last  they  settled  on 
the  four  great  rivers  (which  we  call  Delaware,  Hudson,  Susque- 
hannah,  and  Potomack)  making  the  Delaware,  to  which  they 
gave  the  name  of  "Lenapezvihittuck"  l  (the  river  or  stream  of  the 
Lenape)  the  centre  of  their  possessions. 

They  say,  however,  that  the  whole  of  their  nation  did  not 
reach  this  country ;  that  many  remained  behind  in  order  to  aid 
and  assist  that  great  body  of  their  people,  which  had  not  crossed 
the  Namaesi  Sipu,  but  had  retreated  into  the  interior  of  the 
country  on  the  other  side,  on  being  informed  of  the  reception 
which  those  who  had  crossed  had  met  with,  and  probably  think 
ing  that  they  had  all  been  killed  by  the  enemy. 

Their  nation  finally  became  divided  into  three  separate 
bodies ;  the  larger  body,  which  they  suppose  to  have  been  one 
half  of  the  whole,  was  settled  on  the  Atlantic,  and  the  other 
half  was  again  divided  into  two  parts,  one  of  which,  the  strongest 
as  they  suppose,  remained  beyond  the  Mississippi,  and  the 
remainder  where  they  left  them,  on  this  side  of  that  river. 

Those  of  the  Delawares  who  fixed  their  abode  on  the  shores 
of  the  Atlantic  divided  themselves  into  three  tribes.  Two  of 
them,  distinguished  by  the  names  of  the  Turtle  and  the  Turkey, 
the  former  calling  themselves  Unamis  and  the  other  Unalachtgo, 
chose  those  grounds  to  settle  on,  which  lay  nearest  to  the  sea, 
between  the  coast  and  the  high  mountains.  As  they  multiplied, 

1  The  word  "  Hittuck,"  in  the  language  of  the  Delawares,  means  a  rapid  stream; 
(t  Sipo,"  or  "  Sipu,"  is  the  proper  name  for  a  river. 


52  HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

their  settlements  extended  from  the  Mohicannittuck  (river  of  the 
Mohicans,  which  we  call  the  North  or  Hudson  river)  to  beyond 
the  Potomack.  Many  families  with  their  connexions  choosing 
to  live  by  themselves,  were  scattered  not  only  on  the  larger,  but 
also  on  the  small  streams  throughout  the  country,  having  towns 
and  villages,  where  they  lived  together  in  separate  bodies,  in 
each  of  which  a  chief  resided ;  those  chiefs,  however,  were  sub 
ordinate  (by  their  own  free  will,  the  only  kind  of  subordination 
which  the  Indians  know)  to  the  head  chiefs  or  great  council  of 
the  nation,  whom  they  officially  informed  of  all  events  or  occur 
rences  affecting  the  general  interest  which  came  to  their  know 
ledge.  The  third  tribe,  the  Wolf,  commonly  called  the  Minsi, 
which  we  have  corrupted  into  Monseys,  had  chosen  to  live  back 
of  the  two  other  tribes,  and  formed  a  kind  of  bulwark  for  their 
protection,  watching  the  motions  of  the  Mengwe,  and  being  at 
hand  to  afford  their  aid  in  case  of  a  rupture  with  them.  The 
Minsi  were  considered  the  most  warlike  and  active  branch  of  the 
Lenape.  They  extended  their  settlements,  from  the  Minisink,  a 
place  named  after  them,  where  they  had  their  council  seat  and 
fire,  quite  up  to  the  Hudson  on  the  east ;  and  to  the  west  or 
south  west  far  beyond  the  Susquehannah :  their  northern 
boundaries  were  supposed  originally  to  be  the  heads  of  the 
great  rivers  Susquehannah  and  Delaware,  and  their  southern 
boundaries  that  ridge  of  hills  known  in  New  Jersey  by  the 
name  of  Muskanecun,  and  in  Pennsylvania,  by  those  of  Lehigh, 
Coghnewago,  &c.  Within  this  boundary  were  their  principal 
settlements ;  and  even  as  late  as  the  year  1/42,  they  had  a  town, 
with  a  large  peach  orchard,  on  the  tract  of  land  where  Nazareth, 
in  Pennsylvania,  has  since  been  built;1  another  on  Lehigh  (the 
west  branch  of  the  Delaware),  and  others  beyond  the  blue 
ridge,  besides  small  family  settlements  here  and  there  scattered. 

1  [The  Indians  of  this  town  proved  troublesome  neighbors  to  a  small  company  of 
Moravians,  who,  in  the  spring  of  1740,  were  employed  by  Whitefield  to  erect  a  large 
dwelling  near  its  site,  which  he  designed  for  a  school  for  negroes.  The  town  lay 
near  the  centre  of  a  tract  of  5,000  acres  (now  Upper  Nazareth  township,  Northamp 
ton  County,  Pennsylvania),  which  Whitefield  bought  of  William  Allen,  which  he 
named  Nazareth,  and  which,  in  1741,  he  conveyed  to  the  Moravians.  Captain  John 
and  his  clan  of  Delawares  vacated  their  plantation  in  the  autumn  of  1742,  and  in  the 
following  year,  the  Moravians  commenced  their  first  settlement,  and  named  it 
Nazareth.  Whitefield's  house  is  still  standing.] 


HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS.  53 

From  the  above  three  tribes,  the  Unamis,  Unalachtgo,  and  the 
Minsi,  comprising  together  the  body  of  those  people  we  call 
Delaware*,  had  in  the  course  of  time,  sprung  many  others,  who, 
having  for  their  own  conveniency,  chosen  distant  spots  to  settle 
on,  and  increasing  in  numbers,  gave  themselves  names  or  re 
ceived  them  from  others.  Those  names,  generally  given  after 
some  simple  natural  objects,  or  after  something  striking  or 
extraordinary,  they  continued  to  bear  even  after  they  ceased  to 
be  applicable,  when  they  removed  to  other  places,  where  the 
object  after  which  they  were  named  was  not  to  be  found  ;  thus 
they  formed  separate  and  distinct  tribes,  yet  did  not  deny  their 
origin,  but  retained  their  affection  for  the  parent  tribe,  of ,  which 
they  were  even  proud  to  be  called  the  grandchildren. 

This  was  the  case  with  the  Mahicanni  or  Mohicans,  in  the 
east,  a  people  who  by  intermarriages  had  become  a  detached 
body,  mixing  two  languages  together,  and  forming  out  of  the 
two  a  dialect  of  their  own :  choosing  to  live  by  themselves,  they 
had  crossed  the  Hudson  River,  naming  it  Mahicannituck  River 
after  their  assumed  name,  and  spread  themselves  over  all  that 
country  which  now  composes  the  eastern  states.  New  tribes 
again  sprung  from  them  who  assumed  distinct  names;  still  how 
ever  not  breaking  off  from  the  parent  stock,  but  acknowledging 
the  Lenni  Lenape  to  be  their  grandfather :  the  Delawares,  at  last, 
thought  proper  to  enlarge  their  council  house  for  their  Mahi 
canni  grandchildren,  that  they  might  come  to  their  fire,  that  is  to 
say,  be  benefited  by  their  advice,  and  also  in  order  to  keep 
alive  their  family  connexions  and  remain  in  league  with  each 
other. 

Much  the  same  thing  happened  with  a  body  of  the  Lenape, 
called  Nanticokes,  who  had,  together  with  their  offspring,  pro 
ceeded  far  to  the  south,  in  Maryland  and  Virginia ;  the  council 
house  was  by  their  grandfather  (the  Delawares),  extended  to  the 
Potomack,  in  the  same  manner  and  for  the  same  motives  as  had 
been  done  with  the  Mahicanni. 

Meanwhile  the  Mengwe,  who  had  first  settled  on  the  great 
Lakes  between  them,  had  always  kept  a  number  of  canoes  in 
readiness  to  save  themselves,  in  case  the  Alligewi  should  return, 
and  their  number  also  increasing,  they  had  in  time  proceeded 


54  HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

farther,  and  settled  below  the  Lakes  along  the  River  St.  Law 
rence,  so  that  they  were  now  become,  on  the  north  side,  neigh 
bours  of  the  Lenape  tribes. 

These  Mengwe  now  began  to  look  upon  their  southern  neigh 
bours  with  a  jealous  eye,  became  afraid  of  their  growing  power, 
and  of  being  dispossessed  by  them  of  the  lands  they  occupied. 
To  meet  this  evil  in  time,  they  first  sought  to  raise  quarrels  and 
disturbances,  which  in  the  end  might  lead  to  wars  between 
distant  tribes  and  the  Lenape,  for  which  purpose,  they  clandes 
tinely  murdered  people  on  one  or  the  other  side,  seeking  to 
induce  the  injured  party  to  believe,  that  some  particular  nation 
or  tribe  had  been  the  aggressor;  and  having  actually  succeeded 
to  their  wishes,  they  now  stole  into  the  country  of  the  Lenape 
and  their  associates,  frequently  surprising  them  at  their  hunting 
camps,  occasionally  committing  murders,  and  making  off  with 
the  plunder.  Foreseeing,  however,  that  they  could  not  go  on  in 
this  way  without  being  detected,  they  had  recourse  to  other 
artful  means,  by  which  they  actually  succeeded  in  setting  tribe 
against  tribe,  and  nation  against  nation.  As  each  nation  or 
tribe  has  a  particular  mark  on  their  war  clubs,  different  from 
that  of  the  others  ;  and  as  on  seeing  one  of  these  near  the  dead 
body  of  a  murdered  person,  it  is  immediately  known  what 
nation  or  tribe  has  been  the  aggressor;  so  the  Mengwe 
having  left  a  war  club,  such  as  the  Lenape  made  use  of,  in  the 
Cherokee  country,  where  they  had  purposely  committed  a  mur 
der,  of  course  the  Cherokees  naturally  concluding  that  it  had 
been  committed  by  the  Lenape,  fell  suddenly  upon  them,  which 
produced  a  most  bloody  war  between  the  two  nations.  The 
treachery  of  the  Mengwe,  however,  having  been  at  length  dis 
covered,  the  Lenape  determined  on  taking  an  exemplary  re 
venge,  and,  indeed,  nothing  short  of  a  total  extirpation  l  of  that 
deceitful  race  was  resolved  on;  they  were,  besides,  known  to 
eat  human  flesh,2  to  kill  men  for  the  purpose  of  devouring  them  ; 

1  Loskiel,  part  L,  ch.  10. 

2  The  Reverend  C.  Pyrloeus,  a  pupil  of  Conrad  Weiser,  of  whom  he  learned  the 
Mohawk  language,  and  who  was  afterwards  stationed  on  the  Mohawk  River,  as  a 
Missionary,  has,  in  a  manuscript  book,  written  between  the  years  1742  and   1748, 
page  235,  the  following  note  which  he  received  from  a  principal  chief  of  that  nation, 


HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS.  5$ 

and  therefore  were  not  considered  by  the  Lenape  as  a  pure  race, 
or  as  rational  beings  ;v  but  as  a  mixture  of  the  human  and  brutal 
kinds. 

War  being  now  openly  declared  against  the  Mengwe,  it  was 
carried  on  with  vigour ;  until,  at  last,  finding  that  they  were  no 
match  for  so  powerful  an  enemy  as  the  Lenape,  who  had  such  a 
train  of  connexions,  ready  to  join  them  if  necessity  required, 
they  fell  upon  the  plan  of  entering  into  a  confederacy  with  each 
other,  by  which  they  would  be  bound  to  make  a  common  cause, 
and  meet  the  common  enemy  with  their  united  force,  and  not,  as 
the  present  prospect  was,  be  destroyed  by  tribes,  which  threat 
ened  in  the  end  the  destruction  of  the  whole.  Until  this  time, 
each  tribe  of  the  Mengwe  had  acted  independent  of  the  others, 
and  they  were  not  inclined  to  come  under  any  supreme  authority, 
which  might  counteract  their  base  designs ;  for  now,  a  single 
tribe,  or  even  individuals  of  a  tribe,  by  the  commission  of 
wanton  hostilities,  would  draw  the  more  peaceable  among  them 
into  wars  and  bloodshed,  as  particularly  had  been  the  case  with 
the  Senecas,  who  were  the  most  restless  of  the  whole ;  and 
though  the  Lenape  had  directed  their  force  principally  against 
the  aggressors,  yet  the  body  of  the  nation  became  thereby 
weaker;  so  that  they  saw  the  necessity  of  coming  under 
some  better  regulations  and  government.1 

This  confederation  took  place  some  time  between  the   1 5th 

viz.:  "  The  Five  Nations  formerly  did  eat  human  flesh.;  they  at  one  time  ate  up  a 
whole  body  of  the  French  King's  soldiers;  they  say,  Eto  niocht  ochquari ;  which  is: 
Human  flesh  tastes  like  bear's  meat.  They  also  say,  that  the  hands  are  not  good 
eating,  they  are  yozgarat,  bitter." 

Aged  French  Canadians  have  told  me,  many  years  since,  while  I  was  at  Detroit, 
that  they  had  frequently  seen  the  Iroquois  eat  the  flesh  of  those  who  had  been  slain 
in  battle,  and  that  this  was  the  case  in  the  war  between  the  French  and  English, 
commonly  called  the  war  of  1756. 

At  a  treaty  held  at  the  Proprietor's  house  in  Philadelphia,  July  5th,  1742,  with  the 
Six  Nations,  none  of  the  Senecas  attended ;  the  reason  of  their  absence  being  asked, 
it  was  given  for  answer,  "  that  there  was  a  famine  in  their  country,  and  that  a  father 
had  been  obliged  to  kill  two  of  his  children,  to  preserve  the  lives  of  the  remainder  of 
the  family."  See  Colden's  History  of  the  Five  Nations,  part  II.,  page  52.  See  also 
the  minutes  of  that  treaty,  printed  at  Philadelphia,  by  B.  Franklin,  in  1743,  p.  7,  in 
the  Collection  of  Indian  Treaties  in  the  library  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society. 

1    Loskiel,  part  I.,  ch.  I. 

fr 


56  HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

and  i6th  century  j1  the  most  bloody  wars  were  afterwards  carried 
on  for  a  great  length  of  time,  between  the  "confederated  Iroquois, 
and  the  Delawares  and  their  connexions,  in  which  the  Lenape 
say  that  they  generally  came  off  victorious.  While  these  wars 
were  carrying  on  with  vigour,  the  French  landed  in  Canada,  and 
it  was  not  long  before  they  and  the  now  combined  Five  Nations, 
or  tribes,  were  at  war  with  each  other,  the  latter  not  being 
willing  to  permit  that  the  French  should  establish  themselves 
in  that  country.  At  last  the  Iroquois,  finding  themselves  be 
tween  two  fires,  and  without  any  prospect  of  conquering  the 
Lenape  by  arms,  and  seeing  the  necessity  of  withdrawing  with 
their  families,  from  the  shores  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  to  the  in 
terior  of  the  country,  where  the  French  could  not  easily  reach 
them,  fell  upon  a  stratagem,  which  they  flattered  themselves 
would,  if  successful,  secure  to  them  not  only  a  peace  with  the 
Lenape,  but  also  with  all  the  other  tribes  connected  with  them ; 
so  that  they  would  then  have  but  one  enemy  (the  French)  to 
contend  with. 

This  plan  was  very  deeply  laid,  and  was  calculated  to  deprive 
the  Lenape  and  their  allies,  not  only  of  their  power  but  of  their 
military  fame,  which  had  exalted  them  above  all  the  other 
Indian  nations.  They  were  to  be  persuaded  to  abstain  from  the 
use  of  arms,  and  assume  the  station  of  mediators  and  umpires 
among  their  warlike  neighbours.  In  the  language  of  the  In 
dians,  they  were  to  be  made  women?  It  must  be  understood 
that  among  these  nations  wars  are  never  brought  to  an  end 
but  by  the  interference  of  the  weaker  sex.  The  men,  however 
tired  of  fighting,  are  afraid  of  being  considered  as  cowards  if 

1  The  Rev.  C.  Pyrlaeus,  in  his  manuscript  book,  page  234,  says :  "  The  alliance  or 
confederacy  of  the  Five  Nations  was  established,  as  near  as  can  be  conjectured,  one 
age  (or  the  length  of  a  man's  life)  before  the  white  people  (the  Dutch)  came  into  the 
country.  Thannawage  was  the  name  of  the  aged  Indian,  a  Mohawk,  who  first  pro 
posed  such  an  alliance."  He  then  gives  the  names  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Five  Nations, 
which  at  that  time  met  and  formed  the  alliance,  viz.:  "  Toganawita,  of  the  Mo 
hawks  ;  Otatscklehta,  of  the  Oneidas  ;  Tatotarho,  of  the  Onondagos  ;  Toga  hay  on,  of 
the  Cayugas;  Ganiatarid  and  Satagaruyes,  from  two  towns  of  the  Senecas,  &c.,"  and 
concludes  with  saying:  "  All  these  names  are  forever  to  be  kept  in  remembrance, by 
naming  a  person  in  each  nation  after  them,"  &c.,  &c. 

*  Loskiel,  part  I.,  ch.  10. 


HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS.  57 

they  should  intimate  a  desire  for  peace.  It  is  not  becoming, 
say  they,  for  a  warrior,  with  the  bloody  weapon  in  his  hand,  to 
hold  pacific  language  to  his  enemy.  He  must  shew  to  the  end 
a  determined  courage,  and  appear  as  ready  and  willing  to  fight 
as  at  the  beginning  of  the  contest.  Neither,  say  they,  is  it 
proper,  to  threaten  and  to  sue  in  the  same  breath,  to  hold  the 
peace  belt  in  one  hand,  and  the  tomahawk  in  the  other ;  men's 
words,  as  well  as  their  actions,  should  be  of  a  piece,  all  good 
or  all  bad ;  for  it  is  a  fixed  maxim  of  theirs,  which  they  apply 
on  all  occasions,  that  good  can  never  dwell  with  evil.  They 
also  think  that  a  treaty  produced  by  threats  or  by  force,  cannot 
be  binding.  With  these  dispositions,  war  would  never  have 
ceased  among  Indians,  until  the  extermination  of  one  or  the 
other  party,  if  the  tender  and  compassionate  sex  had  not  come 
forward,  and  by  their  moving  speeches  persuaded  the  enraged 
combatants  to  bury  their  hatchets,  and  make  peace  with  each 
other.  On  these  occasions  they  were  very  eloquent,  they 
would  lament  with  great  feeling  the  losses  suffered  on  both 
sides,  when  there  was  not  a  warrior,  perhaps,  who  had  not  lost 
a  son,  a  brother,  or  a  friend.  They  would  describe  the  sorrows 
of  widowed  wives,  and,  above  all,  of  bereaved  mothers.  The 
pains  of  child-birth,  the  anxieties  attending  the  progress  of  their 
sons  from  infancy  to  manhood,  they  had  willingly  and  even 
cheerfully  suffered;  but  after  all  these  trials,  how  cruel  was  it 
for  them  to  see  those  promising  youths  whom  they  had  reared 
with  so  much  care,  fall  victims  to  the  rage  of  war,  and  a  prey  to 
a  relentless  enemy ;  to  see  them  slaughtered  on  the  field  of 
battle,  or  put  to  death,  as  prisoners,  by  a  protracted  torture,  in 
the  midst  of  the  most  exquisite  torments.  The  thought  of  such 
scenes  made  them  curse  their  own  existence,  and  shudder  at  the 
idea  of  bearing  children.  Then  they  would  conjure  the  warriors 
by  every  thing  that  was  dear  to  them,  to  take  pity  on  the  suffer 
ings  of  their  wives  and  helpless  infants,  to  turn  their  faces  once 
more  towards  their  homes,  families,  and  friends,  to  forgive  the 
wrongs  suffered  from  each  other,  to  lay  aside  their  deadly 
weapons,  and  smoke  together  the  pipe  of  amity  and  peace. 
They  had  given  on  both  sides  sufficient  proofs  of  their  courage; 
the  contending  nations  were  alike  high-minded  and  brave,  and 


58  HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

they  must  now  embrace  as  friends  those  whom  they  had  learned 
to  respect  as  enemies.  Speeches  like  these  seldom  failed  of 
their  intended  effect,  and  the  women  by  this  honorable  function 
of  peace-makers,  were  placed  in  a  situation  by  no  means  undig 
nified.  It  would  not  be  a  disgrace,  therefore ;  on  the  contrary, 
it  would  be  an  honour  to  a  powerful  nation,  who  could  not  be 
suspected  of  wanting  either  strength  or  courage,  to  assume  that 
station  by  which  they  would  be  the  means,  and  the  only  means, 
of  preserving  the  general  peace  and  saving  the  Indian  race  from 
utter  extirpation. 

Such  were  the  arguments  which  the  artful  Mengwe  urged  to 
the  Lenape  to  make  them  fall  into  the  snare  which  they  had  pre 
pared  for  them.  They  had  reflected,  they  said,  deeply  reflected 
on  their  critical  situation ;  there  remained  no  resource  for  them, 
but  that  some  magnanimous  nation  should  assume  the  part  and 
situation  of  the  woman.  It  could  not  be  given  to  a  weak  or  con 
temptible  tribe,  such  would  not  be  listened  to  ;  but  the  Lenape 
and  their  allies  would  at  once  possess  influence  and  command 
respect.  As  men  they  had  been  dreaded ;  as  women  they 
would  be  respected  and  honored,  none  would  be  so  daring  or  so 
base  as  to  attack  or  insult  them ;  as  women  they  would  have 
a  right  to  interfere  in  all  the  quarrels  of  other  nations,  and  to 
stop  or  prevent  the  effusion  of  Indian  blood.  They  entreated 
them,  therefore,  to  become  the  woman  in  name  and,  in  fact,  to 
lay  down  their  arms  and  all  the  insignia  of  warriors,  to  devote 
themselves  to  agriculture  and  other  pacific  employments,  and 
thus  become  the  means  of  preserving  peace  and  harmony  among 
the  nations. 

The  Lenape,  unfortunately  for  themselves,  listened  to  the 
voice  of  their  enemies.  They  knew  it  was  too  true,  that  the 
Indian  nations,  excited  by  their  own  unbridled  passions,  and  not 
a  little  by  their  European  neighbours,  were  in  the  way  of  total 
extirpation  by  each  other's  hands.  They  believed  that  the 
Mengwe  were  sincere,  and  that  their  proposal  had  no  object  in 
view  but  the  preservation  of  the  Indian  race.  In  a  luckless 
hour  they  gave  their  consent,  and  agreed  to  become  women. 
This  consent  was  received  with  great  joy.  A  feast  was  prepared 
for  the  purpose  of  confirming  and  proclaiming  the  new  order  of 


HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS.  59 

things.  With  appropriate  ceremonies,  of  which  Loskiel  has 
given  a  particular  description,1  the  Delawares  were  installed  in 
their  new  functions,  eloquent  speeches  were  delivered,  accom 
panied,  as  usual,  with  belts  of  wampum.  The  great  peace  belt 
and  the  chain  of  friendship  (in  the  figurative  language  of  the 
Indians)  was  laid  across  the  shoulders  of  the  new  mediator,  one 
end  of  which,  it  was  said,  was  to  be  taken  hold  of  by  all  the 
Indian  nations,  and  the  other  by  the  Europeans.2  The  Lenape 
say  that  the  Dutch  were  present  at  that  ceremony,  and  had  no 
inconsiderable  share  in  the  intrigue.3 

1  Loskiel,  part  I.,  ch.  10.  2  Ibid. 

3  [The  following  is  the  passage  from  Loskiel,  which  that  historian  copied  from 
David  Zeisberger's  "  Collection  of  Notes  on  the  Indians,"  compiled  by  the  missionary 
during  his  residence  in  the  valley  of  the  Tuscarawas,  about  1778.  "According  to 
the  account  of  the  Delawares,  they  were  always  too  powerful  for  the  Iroquois,  so 
that  the  latter  were  at  length  convinced  that  if  they  continued  the  war,  their  total 
extirpation  would  be  inevitable.  They  therefore  sent  the  following  message  to  the 
Delawrares :  '  It  is  not  profitable  that  all  the  nations  should  be  at  war  with  each  other, 
for  this  will  at  length  be  the  ruin  of  the  whole  Indian  race.  We  have  therefore 
considered  a  remedy  by  which  this  evil  may  be  prevented.  One  nation  shall  be  the 
woman.  We  will  place  her  in  the  midst,  and  the  other  nations  who  make  war  shall 
be  the  man,  and  live  ai'ound  the  woman.  No  one  shall  touch  or  hurt  the  woman, 
and  if  any  one  does  it,  we  will  immediately  say  to  him,  "  Why  do  you  beat  the 
woman  ?"  Then  all  the  men  shall  fall  upon  him  who  has  beaten  her.  The  woman 
shall  not  go  to  war,  but  endeavor  to  keep  peace  with  all.  Therefore,  if  the  men 
that  surround  her  beat  each  other,  and  the  war  be  carried  on  with  violence,  the 
woman  shall  have  the  right  of  addressing  them,  "Ye  men,  what  are  ye  about?  why 
do  you  beat  each  other?  We  are  almost  afraid.  Consider  that  your  wives  and 
children  must  perish,  unless  you  desist.  Do  you  mean  to  destroy  yourselves  from 
the  face  of  the  earth?"  The  men  shall  then*  hear  and  obey  the  woman.'  The 
Delawares  add,  that,  not  immediately  perceiving  the  intention  of  the  Iroquois, 
they  submitted  to  be  the  woman.  The  Iroquois  then  appointed  a  great  feast,  and 
invited  the  Delaware  nation  to  it;  when,  in  consequence  of  the  authority  given 
them,  they  made  a  solemn  speech  containing  three  capital  points.  The  first  was, 
that  they  declared  the  Delaware  nation  to  be  the  woman  in  the  following  words : 
'  We  dress  you  in  a  woman's  long  habit,  reaching  down  to  your  feet,  and  adorn  you 
with  ear-rings ;'  meaning  that  they  should  no  more  take  up  arms.  The  second  point 
was  thus  expressed  :  '  We  hnng  a  calabash  filled  with  oil  and  medicine  upon  your 
arm.  With  the  oil  you  shall  cleanse  the  ears  of  the  other  nations,  that  they  may 
attend  to  good  and  not  to  bad  words,  and  with  the  medicine  you  shall  heal  those 
who  are  walking  in  foolish  ways,  that  they  may  return  to  their  senses  and  incline 
their  hearts  to  peace.'  The  third  point,  by  which  the  Delawares  were  exhorted  to 
make  agriculture  their  future  employ  and  means  of  subsistence,  was  thus  worded : 
1  We  deliver  into  your  hands  a  plant  of  Indian  corn  and  a  hoe.'  Each  of  these 


6O  HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

The  old  and  intelligent  Mahicanni,  whose  forefathers  inhabited 
the  country  on  the  east  side  of  the  North  river,  gave  many  years 
since  the  following  account  of  the  above  transaction.  They 
said  that  their  grandfather  (the  Lenni  Lenape),  and  the  nations 
or  tribes  connected  with  them,  were  so  united,  that  whatsoever 
nation  attacked  the  one,  it  was  the  same  as  attacking  the  whole ; 
all  in  such  cases  would  unite  and  make  a  common  cause.  That 
the  long  house  (council  house)  of  all  those  who  were  of  the 
same  blood,  and  united  under  this  kind  of  tacit  alliance,  reached 
from  the  head  of  the  tide,  at  some  distance  above  where  Gaasch- 
tinick  (Albany)  now  stands,  to  the  head  of  the  tide  water  on  the 
Potomack.  That  at  each  end  of  this  house  there  was  a  door 
for  the  tribes  to  enter  at.  That  the  Mengwe  were  in  no  way 
connected  with  those  who  had  access  to  this  house  ;  but  were 
looked  upon  as  strangers.  That  the  Lenape,  with  the  Mohicans 
and  all  the  other  tribes  in  their  connexion,  were  on  the  point  of 
extirpating  the  Five  Nations,  when  they  applied  to  the  Dutche 
maan,  who  were  now  making  a  settlement  at  or  near  Gaasch 
tinick,  to  assist  them  in  bringing  about  a  peace  with  the  Lenape 
That  accordingly  these  new  comers  invited  the  Lenape  and  Mo 
hicans  to  a  grand  council,  at  a  place  situated  at  some  distance 
from  where  Albany  now  stands,  which  the  white  people  have 
since  called  by  the  name  of  Nordmaris  Kill.  That  when  at 
length,  by  their  united  supplications  and  fair  speeches,  they  had 
got  the  hatchet  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Lenape,  they  buried 
that  weapon  at  Gaaschtinick,  and  said  that  they  would  build  a 
church  over  the  spot,  so  that  the  weapon  could  never  any  more 
be  got  at,  otherwise  than  by  lifting  up  the  whole  church,  and 

points  was  confirmed  by  delivering  a  belt  of  wampum,  and  these  belts  have  been 
carefully  laid  up,  and  their  meaning  frequently  repeated. 

"  The  Iroquois,  on  the  contrary,  assert  that  they  conquered  the  Delawares,  and  that 
the  latter  were  forced  to  adopt  the  defenceless  state  and  appellation  of  a  woman  to 
avoid  total  ruin. 

"Whether  these  different  accounts  be  true  or  false,  certain  it  is  that  the  Delaware 
nation  has  ever  since  been  looked  to  for  preservation  of  peace,  and  entrusted  with 
the  charge  of  the  great  belt  of  peace  and  chain  of  friendship,  which  they  must  take 
care  to  preserve  inviolate.  According  to  the  figurative  explanation  of  the  Indians, 
the  middle  of  the  chain  of  friendship  is  placed  upon  the  shoulder  of  the  Delaware' 
the  rest  of  the  Indian  nations  holding  one  end  and  the  Europeans  the  other."] 


HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS.  6l 

whatever  nation  should  dare  to  do  this,  on  them  the  Dutche- 
maan  would  take  revenge.  That  now,  having  succeeded  in  get 
ting  the  weapon  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Lenar^  the  ceremony 
of  placing  them  in  the  situation  of  "  the  woman,"  for  the  pur 
pose  of  being  mediators,  took  place,  when  the  Mengwe  declared 
them  henceforth  to  be  their  cousins,  and  the  Mahicanni,  they 
said,  they  would  call  their  nephews. 

The  Mahicanni  further  say,  that  it  was  fear  which  induced 
the  Dutchemaan  to  aid  the  Five  Nations  in  bringing  about  this 
peace,  because  at  the  place  where  they  were  at  that  time  making 
their  settlement,  great  bodies  of  warriors  would  pass  and  repass, 
so  that  they  could  not  avoid  being  interrupted  in  their  under 
takings,  and  probably  molested,  if  not  destroyed,  by  one  or  the 
other  of  the  war  parties,  as  their  wars,  at  that  time,  were  carried 
on  with  great  rage,  and  no  quarter  was  given.  That  in  pro 
ducing  this  peace,  the  white  people  had  effected  for  the  Mengwe, 
what  no  other  nation  could  have  done,  and  had  laid  the  founda 
tion  of  the  future  greatness  of  their  Iroquois  friends,  as  the  same 
policy  was  pursued  by  the  English,  after  they  came  into  posses 
sion  of  this  country.  —  So  far  the  tradition  of  the  Mahicanni. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Pyrlaeus,  in  his  notes,  after  fixing  as  near  as  he 
could  the  time  when  the  Five  Nations  confederated  with  each 
other,  proceeds  in  these  words  :  "  According  to  my  informant, 
Sganarady,  a  creditable  aged  Indian,  his  grandfather  had  been 
one  of  the  deputies  sent  for  the  purpose  of  entering  into  a  cove 
nant  with  the  white  Europeans ;  they  met  at  a  place  since  called 
Nordman's  Kill,  about  four  miles  below  where  afterwards  Al 
bany  was  built,  where  this  covenant  of  friendship  was  first  es 
tablished,  and  the  Mohawks  were  the  active  body  in  effecting 
this  work." 

From  these  three  separate  accounts  of  the  Lenape,  of  the 
Mahicanni,  and  of  the  Mohawks,  as  related  by  Mr.  Pyrlaeus,  it 
appears  to  be  conclusively  proved,  that  the  Europeans  were 
already  in  this  country,  when  the  Lenape  were  persuaded  to 
assume  the  station  of  the  woman,  and  that  the  Dutch  were  assist 
ing  in  the  plot,  and  were  at  least  the  instigators,  if  not  the 
authors  of  it.  It  was  the  Dutch  who  summoned  the  great  council 
near  Albany ;  the  tomahawk  was  buried  deep  in  the  ground, 


62  HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

and  the  vengeance  of  the  Dutch  was  threatened  if  it  should  ever 
be  taken  up  again ;  the  peace  belt  was  laid  across  the  shoulders 
of  the  unfortunate  Delawares,  supported  at  one  end  by  the  Five 
Nations,  and  at  the  other  by  the  Europeans;  all  these  circum 
stances  point  so  clearly  to  European  intrigue,  that  it  is  impossi 
ble  to  resist  the  conclusion  that  the  whites  adopted  this  means 
to  neutralize  the  power  of  the  Delawares  and  their  friends, 
whom  they  dreaded,  and  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  Iroquois, 
who  were  in  their  alliance. 

The  Iroquois  have  denied  that  these  machinations  ever  took 
place,  and  say  that  they  conquered  the  Delawares  in  fair  battle, 
and  compelled   them  by  force  to  become  women,  or  in  other 
words  that  they  obliged  them  to  submit  to  the  greatest  humilia 
tion  to  which  a  warlike  spirited  people  can  ever  be  reduced ;  not 
a  momentary  humiliation,  as  when  the  Romans  were  compelled 
by  the  Samnites  to  pass  under  the  Caudine  forks,  but  a  perma 
nent  disgrace,  which  was  to  last  as  long  as  their  national  exist 
ence.     If  this  were  true,  the  Lenape  and  their  allies,  who,  like 
all  other  Indian  nations,  never  considered  a  treaty  binding  when 
entered  into  under  any  kind  of  compulsion,  would  not  have  sub 
mitted  to  this  any  longer  than  until  they  could  again  have  rallied 
their  forces  and  fallen  upon  their  enemy ;  they  would  have  done 
long  before  the  year  i^Sjj  what  they  did  at  last  at  that  time, 
joined  the  French  in  their  wars  against  the  Iroquois  and  English, 
and  would  not  have  patiently  waited  more  than  a  century  before 
they  took  their  revenge  for  so  flagrant  an  outrage.     Their  num 
bers,  acknowledged  to  have  been  far  superior  to  that  of  their 
Indian  enemies,  and  the  vast  extent  of  territory  which  they  pos 
sessed,  furnished  them  with  ample  means  to  have  acted  hostilely, 
if  they  had  thought  proper.      On  the  contrary,  they   lived   at 
peace  with  the  Iroquois,  and  their  European  allies,  until  that 
decisive  war,  by  which  the  French  lost  at  once  all  their  exten 
sive  possessions  on  the  continent  of  America. 

In  addition  to  these  positive  proofs,  negative  evidence  of  the 
strongest  kind  may  be  adduced.  The  Iroquois  say,  indeed,  that 
they  conquered  the  Delawares  and  their  allies,  and  compelled 
them  to  become  women.  But  there  is  no  tradition  among  them 
of  the  particulars  of  this  important  event.  Neither  Mr.  Pyrloeus, 


HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS.  63 

nor  Mr.  Zeisberger,1  who  both  lived  long  among  the  Five 
Nations,  and  spoke  and  understood  their  language  well,  could 
obtain  from  them  any  details  relative  to  this  supposed  conquest ; 
they  ought,  certainly,  to  have  been  able  to  say  how  it  was 
effected;  whether  by  one  decisive  fight  or  by  successive  en 
gagements,  or  at  least,  when  the  last  battle  took  place ;  who 
were  the  nations  or  tribes  engaged  in  it;  who  the  chiefs  of 
commanders ;  what  numbers  fell  on  each  side ;  and  a  variety  of 
other  facts,  by  which  the  truth  of  their  assertion  might  have 
been  proved :  the  total  absence  of  such  details  appears  to  me  to 
militate  against  them  in  the  strongest  manner,  and  to  corrobo 
rate  the  statement  of  their  adversaries. 

The  Delawares  are  of  opinion,  that  this  scheme  of  the  Five 
Nations,  however  deeply  laid,  and  meant  essentially  to  injure 
them,  would  not,  however,  have  operated  against  them,  but  on 
the  contrary,  have  greatly  subserved  their  national  interest,  if 
the  Europeans  had  not  afterwards  come  into  the  country  in  such 
great  numbers,  and  multiplied  so  rapidly  as  they  did.  For 
their  neutral  position  would  greatly  have  favoured  their  increase, 
while  the  numbers  of  the  other  Indian  nations  would  have  been 
reduced  by  the  wars  in  which  they  were  continually  engaged. 
But  unfortunately  for  them,  it  happened  that  the  Europeans 
successively  invaded  the  country  which  they  occupied,  and  now 
forms  what  are  called  the  middle  states,  and  as  they  advanced 
from  the  Atlantic,  into  the  interior,  drove  before  them  the 
Lenape  and  their  allies,  and  obtained  possession  of  their  lands  ; 
while  the  Iroquois,  who  happened  to  be  placed  in  the  neigh 
bourhood  of  Canada,  between  the  French  and  English,  who  were 

1  [  The  Life  and  Times  of  David  Zeisberger,  the  Western  Pioneer  and  Apostle  to  the 
Indians,  by  Edmund  de  Sckweinitz,  Phila..  1870,  reviews  the  Moravian  mission 
among  the  North  American  Indians  from  its  beginnings  to  recent  times,  besides  very 
fully  portraying  the  career  of  the  veteran  missionary,  who  spent  upwards  of  sixty 
years  of  his  life  as  an  evangelist  to  the  Indians,  thirty-six  of  which  were  passed 
within  the  limits  of  the  present  State  of  Ohio.  He  died  on  the  iyth  of  November, 
1808,  at  Goshen,  on  the  Tuscarawas,  in  the  88th  year  of  his  age.  Zeisberger,  in  the 
course  of  his  long  life  in  the  Indian  country,  mastered  the  Delaware  and  the  Onon- 
daga  of  the  Iroquois,  into  the  former  of  which  he  made  translations  of  a  number  of 
devotional  books,  while  he  studied  both  critically,  as  his  literary  efforts  in  that 
direction,  partly  published  and  partly  in  MS.,  amply  testify.] 


64  HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

frequently  at  war  with  each  other,  had  an  enemy,  it  is  true,  in 
the  French  nation,  but  had  strong  protectors  in  the  English, 
who  considered  them  as  a  check  upon  their  enemies,  and,  being 
the  most  numerous  people,  were  best  able  to  afford  them  pro 
tection  ;  thus  they  were  suffered  to  increase  and  become  power 
ful,  while  the  Lenape,  having  no  friend  near  them,  the  French 
being  then  at  too  great  a  distance,  were  entirely  at  the  mercy 
of  their  English  neighbours,  who,  advancing  fast  on  their  lands, 
gradually  dispersed  them,  and  other  causes  concurring,  pro 
duced  at  last  their  almost  entire  destruction.  Among  those 
causes  the  treacherous  conduct  of  the  Five  Nations  may  be 
considered  as  the  principal  one. 

Before  that  strange  metamorphosis  took  place,  of  a  great  and 
powerful  nation  being  transformed  into  a  band  of  defenceless 
women,  the  Iroquois  had  never  been  permitted  to  visit  the 
Lenape,  even  when  they  were  at  peace  with  each  other.  When 
ever  a  Mengwe  appeared  in  their  country,  he  was  hunted  down 
as  a  beast  of  prey,  and  it  was  lawful  for  every  one  to  destroy 
him.  But  now,  the  woman  could  not,  consistently  with  her  new 
station  and  her  engagements,  make  use  of  destructive  weapons, 
and  she  was  bound  to  abstain  from  all  violence  against  the 
human  species.  Her  late  enemies,  therefore,  found  no  difficulty 
in  travelling,  under  various  pretences,  through  her  country,  and 
those  of  her  allies,  and  leaving  here  and  there  a  few  of  their 
people  to  remain  among  them  as  long  as  t)iey  pleased,  for  the 
purpose,  as  they  said,  of  keeping  up  a  good  understanding,  and 
assisting  them  in  the  preservation  of  the  general  peace.  But 
while  they  were  amusing  the  Lenape  with  flattering  language, 
they  were  concerting  measures  to  disturb  their  quiet  by  involv 
ing  them  in  difficulties  with  the  neighbouring  nations.  I  shall 
relate  one  among  many  instances  of  a  similar  conduct.  They 
once  sent  their  men  into  the  Cherokee  country,  who  were 
instructed  secretly  to  kill  one  of  that  nation,  and  to  leave  a  war 
club  near  the  person  murdered,  which  had  been  purposely  made 
after  the  manner  and  in  the  shape  of  those  of  the  Del.ajyares. 
Now  leaving  a  war  club  in  an  Indian  country,  is  considered  by 
those  nations  as  a  formal  challenge  or  declaration  of  war.  The 
Cherokees,  deceived  by  appearances,  and  believing  that  their 


HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE     INDIANS.  65 

grandfather  the  Lenape  had  committed  the  murder,  collected  a 
large  party  to  go  into  their  country  and  take  their  revenge. 
Meanwhile,  the  Iroquois  sent  a  messenger  to  the  Lenape,  to 
inform  them  of  the  approach  of  an  enemy,  who,  they  had  learned 
from  their  hunters,  was  coming  towards  their  settlement,  and  to 
advise  them  to  send  a  number  of  their  men  immediately  to  a  certain 
place,  where  they  would  be  met  by  a  large  body  of  the  Five  Na 
tions,  who  would  take  the  lead,  march  in  front,  and  fight  their 
battles,  so  that  they  would  have  little  else  to  do  than  to  look  on 
and  see  how  well  their  friends  fought  for  them.  The  Lenape, 
being  in  no  wise  prepared  to  meet  a  powerful  foe,  assembled  in 
haste  a  few  of  their  men,  and  repaired  to  the  place  of  rendezvous, 
where  they  were  disappointed  by  not  meeting  any  of  their  pre 
tended  protectors.  The  enemy,  however,  was  close  upon  them ; 
the  Lenape  fought  with  great  courage,  but  were  overpowered  by 
an  immense  superiority  of  numbers,  and  defeated  with  con 
siderable  loss.  Now  the  Iroquois  made  their  appearance,  and 
instead  of  attacking  or  pursuing  the  Cherokees,  loaded  the 
Delawares  with  reproaches,  for  their  temerity,  as  they  called  it, 
in  having  dared,  being  women,  to  take  the  lead  in  attacking 
men.  They  told  them  that  the  Five  Nations  being  their  supe 
riors,  they  ought  to  have  waited  for  them  before  they  attacked 
the  Cherokees,  that  then  their  protectors  would  have  fought  and 
defeated  them,  but  that  as  they  had  thought  proper  to  act  by 
themselves,  they  had  received  the  punishment  justly  due  to 
their  presumption. 

It  was  thus  that  the  Five  Nations  rewarded  the  confidence 
that  the  Delawares  had  placed  in  them.  Their  treachery  was 
not,  however,  suspected  for  a  long  time;  but  it  was  at  last  dis 
covered  ;  it  was  even  found  out  that  in  this  last  engagement,  a 
number  of  the  Iroquois  had  joined  in  fight  against  them  with 
their  enemies.  The  Lenape  then  determined  to  unite  their 
forces,  and  by  one  great  effort  to  destroy  entirely  that  perfidious 
nation.  This,  they  say,  they  might  easily  have  done,  as  they 
were  then  yet  as  numerous  as  the  grasshoppers  at  particular  sea 
sons,  and  as  destructive  to  their  enemies  as  these  insects  are  to 
the  fruits  of  the  earth ;  while  they  described  the  Mengwe  as  a 
number  of  croaking  frogs  in  a  pond,  which  make  a  great  noise 
5 


66  HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

when  all  is  quiet,  but  at  the  first  approach  of  danger,  nay,  at  the 
very  rustling  of  a  leaf,  immediately  plunge  into  the  water  and 
are  silent. 

But  their  attention  was  now  diverted  by  other  scenes.  The 
whites  were  again  landing  in  great  numbers  on  their  coast,  in 
the  east  and  south,  and  this  spectacle  once  more  engaged  all  the 
capacity  of  their  minds.  They  were  lost  in  admiration  at  what 
they  saw,  and  were  consulting  and  deliberating  together  on 
what  they  should  do.  The  Five  Nations,  who  lived  out  of  the 
reach  of  all  danger,  nevertheless  also  came ;  but  bent  on  their 
own  interest,  while  they  were  instigating  the  other  nations  to 
fall  upon  the  new  comers,  or  drive  them  off  from  their  shores, 
by  which  they  caused  useless  hostilities,  in  which  they  did  not 
appear  to  participate,  they  were  insinuating  themselves  into  the 
favour  of  the  powerful  strangers,  professing  great  friendship  for 
them,  persuading  them  that  they  were  superior  to  the  other 
Indian  nations,  that  they  had  controul  over  them  all,  and  would 
chastise  those  who  should  disturb  their  peace. 

William  Penn  came,  with  his  train  of  pacific  followers.  Never 
will  the  Delawares  forget  their  elder  brother  Miquon,  as  they 
affectionately  and  respectfully  call  him.  From  his  first  arrival 
in  their  country,  a  friendship  was  formed  between  them  which 
was  to  last  as  long  as  the  sun  should  shine,  and  the  rivers  flow 
with  water.  That  friendship  would  undoubtedly  have  continued 
to  the  end  of  time,  had  their  good  brother  always  remained 
among  them,  but  in  his  absence,  mischievous  people,  say  they, 
got  into  power,  who,  not  content  with  the  land  which  had  been 
given  to  them,  contrived  to  get  all  that  they  wanted ;  and  when 
the  Lenape  looked  round  for  the  friends  of  their  brother 
Miquon,  to  hear  their  just  complaints,  and  redress  their  wrongs, 
they  could  not  discover  them,  and  had  the  misfortune  to  see 
their  greatest  enemies,  the  Mengwe,  brought  on  for  the  purpose 
of  shutting  their  mouths,  and  compelling  them  to  submit  to  the 
injustice  done  them. 

They  cannot  conceive  how  the  English  could  turn  from  the 
people  by  whom  they  had  been  so  kindly  received  and  wel 
comed  with  open  arms ;  from  those  who  had  permitted  them  to 
sit  down  upon  their  lands  in  peace,  and  without  fear  of  being 


HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS.  6/ 

molested  by  them ;  who  had  taken  delight  in  supplying  all  their 
wants,1  and  who  were  happy  in  smoking  the  pipe  of  friendship 
with  them  at  one  and  the  same  fire ;  how  they  could  not  only 
see  them  degraded  and  injured  by  a  base  and  perfidious  nation, 
but  join  with  that  nation  in  sinking  them  still  lower.  For  to 
the  countenance  of  the  English,  they  say,  is  entirely  owing  the 
great  preponderance  which  the  Iroquois  at  last  attained :  they  ' 
complain  that  the  English  did  support  that  enemy  against  them, 
that  they  even  sanctioned  their  insolence,  by  telling  them  to 
make  use  of  their  authority  as  men,  and  bring  these  women  (the 
Lenape)  to  their  senses.  That  they  were  even  insulted  and 
treated  in  a  degrading  manner,  in  treaties  to  which  the  English 
were  parties,  and  particularly  in  that  which  took  place  at  Easton,2 
in  Pennsylvania,  in  July,  I/42,3  when  the  Six  Nations  were  pub 
licly  called  on  to  compel  the  Delawares  to  give  up  the  land 
taken  from  them  by  the  long  day's  walk.  But  for  these  repeated 
outrages,  they  would  not  have  taken  part  with  the  French  in  the 
memorable  war  of  I/55-4  Nor,  perhaps,  would  they  have  done 
so,  had  not  they  been  seduced  into  the  measure  by  the  perfidi 
ous  Iroquois.  At  the  commencement  of  that,  war,  they  brought 
the  war  belt,  with  a  piece  of  tobacco,  to  the  Delawares,  and  told 
them  :  "  Remember  that  the  English  have  unjustly  deprived  you 

1  Mr.  Proud,  in  his   History  of  Pennsylvania,  relates  that,  some  time  after  the 
establishment  of  William  Penn's  government,  the  Indians  used  to  supply  the  family 
of  one  John  Chapman,  whose   descendants  still  reside  in  Bucks  County,  with  all 
kinds  of  provisions,  and  mentions  an  affecting  instance  of  their  kindness  to  that 
family.     Abraham  and  John  Chapman,  twin  children  about  nine  or  ten  years  old, 
going  out  one  evening  to  seek  their  cattle,  met  an  Indian  in  the  woods,  who  told 
them  to  go  back,  else  they  would  be  lost.     They  took  his  advice  and  went  back,  but 
it  was  night  before  they  got  home,  where  they  found  the  Indian,  who  had  repaired 
thither  out  of  anxiety  for  them.     And  their  parents,  about  that  time,  going  to  the 
yearly  meeting  at  Philadelphia,  and  leaving  a  young  family  at  home,  the  Indians 
came  every  day  to  see  whether  anything  was  amiss  among  them.    Such  (says  Proud) 
in  many  instances  was  the  kind  treatment  of  the  Aborigines  of  this  country  to  the 
English  in  their  first  and  early  settlement.     Proud's  Hist.,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  223,  224. 

2  [For  "  Easton  in  Pennsylvania,"  read  Philadelphia.     Easton,  the  county-seat  of 
Northampton  County,  was  laid  out  in  the  spring  of  1752.] 

3  For  "  1742,"  read  "and  November,  1756."     [The  latter  was  held  at  Easton  ] 

4  [The  so-called  French  and  Indian  war,  the  fourth  and  last  of  the  inter-colonial 
wars,  which  originated  in  disputes  between  the  French  and  English  concerning  ter 
ritorial  claims,  and  which,  after  a  seven  years'  contest,  resulted  in  establishing  the 
supremacy  of  the  latter  over  the  civilized  portions  of  North  America.] 


68  HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

of  much  of  your  land,  which  they  took  from  you  by  force.  Your 
cause  is  just;  therefore  smoke  of  this  tobacco,  and  arise;  join 
with  us  our  fathers,  the  French,  and  take  your  revenge.  You 
are  women,  it  is  true,  but  we  will  shorten  your  petticoats,  and 
though  you  may  appear  by  your  dress  to  be  women,  yet  by  your 
conduct  and  language  you  will  convince  your  enemies  that  you 
are  determined  not  tamely  to  suffer  the  wrongs  and  injuries 
inflicted  upon  you." 

Yielding  to  these  solicitations,  the  Delawares  and  their  con 
nexions  took  up  arms  against  the  English  in  favor  of  the  French, 
and  committed  many  hostilities,  in  which  the  Iroquois  appeared 
to  take  no  part.  Sir  William  Johnson  requested  them  to  use 
their  ascendancy  and-  to  persuade  the  hostile  Indians  to  lay 
down  the  hatchet,  instead  of  which,  instead  of  conforming  to 
the  ancient  custom  of  Indian  nations,  which  was  simply  to  take 
the  war-hatchet  back  from  those  to  whom  they  had  given  it, 
they  fell  on  a  sudden  on  the  unsuspecting  Lenape,  killed  their 
cattle,  and  destroyed  their  town  on  the  Susquehannah,  and  having 
taken  a  number  of  them  prisoners,  carried  them  to  Sir  William 
Johnson,  who  confined  and  put  them  in  irons.  This  cruel  act  of 
treachery,  the  Delawares  say,  they  will  never  forget  nor  forgive. 

Thus  the  Lenape,  whose  principal  settlements  were  then  on 
the  frontier  of  Pennsylvania,  took  part  with  the  French,  and 
acted  hostilely  against  the  English  during  the  whole  of  the  war 
of  1755.  The  animosity  which  mutual  hostilities  produced 
between  them  and  the  settlers  concurred,  no  doubt,  with  other 
causes,  in  producing  the  murder  of  the  Conestogo  Indians,  which 
took  place  at  the  close  of  that  war,  in  December,  1763,  and  is 
feelingly  related  by  Loskiel,  part  I.,  ch.  14  and  I5.1 

1  [The  Conestogas  remained  on  their  ancestral  seats,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Cones- 
toga,  in  Manor  township,  Lancaster  County,  Penna.,  long  after  the  other  Indians  on 
the  Susquehanna  had  been  crowded  by  the  advance  of  civilization  beyond  Shamo- 
kin.  Here  the  remnant  of  this  tribe  was  fallen  upon  by  Scotch-Irish  partizans  of 
Paxton  township  (now  within  the  limits  of  Dauphin  County)  in  December  of  1763, 
all  that  were  at  the  settlement  killed,  and  their  cabins  burnt  to  the  ground.  Ten 
days  later,  the  remainder  of  this  inoffensive  people,  who  had  been  lodged  in  the 
jail  at  Lancaster,  were  inhumanly  butchered  by  the  same  band  of  lawless  frontiers 
men.  In  Heckewelder's  "  Narrative  of  the  Mission  of  the  United  Brethren  among 
the  Delaware  and  Mohegan  Indians,"  there  is  a  statement  by  an  eye-witness,  touch 
ing  the  last  scene  in  this  bloody  tragedy.] 


HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS.  69 

The  revolutionary  war  put  an  end  to  the  exorbitant  power  of 
the  Iroquois.  They  were,  indeed,  still  supported  by  the  British 
government,  but  the  Americans  were  now  the  strongest  party, 
and  of  course  against  them.  They  endeavored  to  persuade  the 
other  Indian  nations  to  join  them,  but  their  expectations  were 
deceived.  At  a  meeting  which  took  place  at  Pittsburg  in  1775, 
for  the  express  purpose  of  deliberating  on  the  part  which  it 
became  Indians  to  take  in  the  disturbances  which  had  arisen  be 
tween  the  King  of  Great  Britain  and  his  subjects,  Capt  White 
Eyes,  a  sensible  and  very  spirited  warrior  of  the  Lenape,1  boldly 
declared  to  a  select  body  of  the  Senecas,  that  his  Indians  would 
never  join  any  nation  or  power,  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  a 
people  who  were  born  on  the  same  soil  with  them.  That  the 
Americans  were  his  friends  and  brothers,  and  that  no  nation 
should  dictate  to  him  what  part  he  should  take  in  the  existing 
war.  Anticipating  the  measure  which  the  American  Congress 
took  in  the  succeeding  year,  he  declared  himself?  in  behalf  of 
his  nation,  free  and  independent  of  the  Iroquois ;  they  had  pre 
tended  that  they  had  conquered  him,  they  had  made  a  woman 
of  him  and  dressed  him  in  woman's  apparel,  but  now  he  was 
again  a  man,  he  stood  before  them  as  a  man,  and  with  the 
weapons  of  a  man  he  would  assert  his  claim  to  all  yonder  coun 
try,  pointing  to  the  land  on  the  west  side  of  the  Allegheny 
river  ;  for  to  him  it  belonged,  and  not  to  the  Six  Nations,  who 
falsely  asserted  that  they  had  acquired  it  by  conquest.  In  the 

1  [White  Eyes,  alias  Koquethagachton,  a  celebrated  captain  and  counsellor  of  the 
Delawares  of  the  Ohio  country,  was  first  met  by  Heckewelder  at  his  home,  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Beaver  (above  Pittsburg),  when  the  latter  was  on  his  way  to  the  Tus- 
carawas,  in  the  spring  of  1762.     When  Zeisberger  entered  the  valley  of  that  river, 
in  1772,  and  built  Schonbrunn,  the  chieftain  was  residing  six  miles  below  Gekele- 
mukpechunk,  the  then  capital  of  his  nation,  in  the  present  Oxford  township,  Coshoc- 
ton  County.     In  Dunmore's  war,  as  well  as  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  White  Eyes 
strove  strenuously  to  keep  the  Delawares  neutral.     Failing  in  this  in  the  latter  con 
test,  and  seeing  himself  necessitated  to  take  sides,  he  declared  for  the  Americans, 
joined  Gen.  Mclntosh's  command,  but  died  at  Fort  Laurens,  on  the  Tuscarawas,  in 
November  of  1778,  before  the  projected  expedition,  which  was  aimed  at  the  San- 
dusky  towns,  moved.     White  Eyes  was  a  warm  friend  of  the  Moravian  mission,  and 
was  deeply  interested  in  the  progress  of  his  people  in  the  arts  of  civilized  life.] 

2  Indian  chiefs,  in  their  public  speeches,  always  speak  on  behalf  of  their  nation 
in  the  singular  number  and  in  the  first  person,  considering  themselves,  in  a  manner, 
as  its  representatives. 


70  HISTORICAL    TRADITIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

year  1778  or  1779,  the  Lenape  bravely  asserted  their  national 
independence  by  joining  Col.  Brodhead's  troops  in  an  expedition 
against  the  Senecas.1  If  they  did  not  do  as  much  in  that  war  as 
might  have  been  expected  of  them,  and  took  only  a  partial  re 
venge,  it  was  owing  to  the  death  of  their  brave  chief,  White 
Eyes,  who  died  of  the  small  pox  at  Pittsburg,  I  think,  in  the 
year  1780.  He  was  a  Christian  in  his  heart,  but  did  not  live  to 
make  a  public  profession  of  our  religion,  though  it  is  well  known 
that  he  persuaded  many  Indians  to  embrace  it.2 

Although  the  Lenape  acted  independently  in  the  war  of  1755, 
and  made  a  formal  declaration  of  their  independence  at  the  be 
ginning  of  the  revolutionary  war,  yet  the  Six  Nations  persevered 
in  their  pretensions,  and  still  affected  to  consider  them  as  women. 
Finding,  however,  that  this  obsolete  claim  was  no  longer  ac 
knowledged,  and  that  it  was  useless  to  insist  upon  it  any  longer, 
they  came  forward  of  their  own  accord,  about  the  time  of 
Wayne's  treaty,  and  formally  declared  that  the  Lenape  and  their 
allies  were  no  longer  women,  but  MEN. 

The  Delawares  and  Mohicans  agree  in  saying,  that  from  the 
time  of  the  fatal  treaty  in  which  they  were  persuaded  to  assimi 
late  themselves  to  women,  and,  indeed,  ever  since  the  Europeans 
first  came  into  the  country,  the  conduct  of  the  Iroquois  was 
treacherous  and  perfidious  in  the  extreme.  That  it  was  their 
constant  practice  to  sally  out  secretly  and  commit  depredations 
on  the  neighbouring  nations,  with  intent  to  involve  them  in 
wars  with  each  other.  That  they  would  also  commit  murders 
on  the  frontier  settlers,  from  Virginia  to  New  England,  and 
charge  the  tribes  who  were  settled  in  the  neighbourhood  with 
the  commission  of  those  crimes.  That  they  would  then  turn 
negotiators,  and  effect  a  peace,  always  at  the  expense  of  the 
nation  whom  they  had  injured.  They  would  sell  the  lands  of 
other  nations  to  the  English  and  receive  the  money,  pretend 
ing  to  a  paramount  right  to  the  whole  territory,  and  this,  say 
the  Lenape,  was  their  manner  of  CONQUERING  NATIONS  ! 


1  [In  August  of  1779,  Col.  Daniel  Brodhead,  then  commandant  of  Fort  Pitt,  moved 
with  some  troops  up  the  Allegheny,  and  in  the  forks  of  that  river  destroyed  several 
settlements,  inhabited  by  Monsey  and  Seneca  Indians.     -  The  Delawares,"  he  writes 
m  his  report  to  the  War  Department,  "  are  ready  to  follow  me  wherever  I  Co  "1 

2  Loskiel,  part  II.,  ch.  8. 


CHAPTER   II. 

INDIAN  ACCOUNT   OF  THE   FIRST  ARRIVAL  OF  THE  DUTCH  AT 
NEW  YORK  ISLAND. 

[HE  Lenni  Lenape  claim  the  honour  of  having  received 
and  welcomed  the  Europeans  on  their  first  arrival  in 
the  country,  situated  between  New  England  and  Vir 
ginia.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  the  Mahicanni  or 
Mohicans,  who  then  inhabited  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  con 
curred  in  the  hospitable  act.  The  relation  I  am  going  to  make 
was  taken  down  many  years  since  from  the  mouth  of  an  intelli 
gent  Delaware  Indian,  and  may  be  considered  as  a  correct 
account  of  the  tradition  existing  among  them  of  this  momen 
tous  event.  I  give  it  as  much  as  possible  in  their  own  language. 
A  great  many  years  ago,  when  men  with  a  white  skin  had 
never  yet  been  seen  in  this  land,  some  Indians  who  were  out  a 
fishing,  at  a  place  where  the  sea  widens,  espied  at  a  great 
distance  something  remarkably  large  floating  on  the  water,  and 
such  as  they  had  never  seen  before.  These  Indians  imme 
diately  returning  to  the  shore,  apprised  their  countrymen  of 
what  they  had  observed,  and  pressed  them  to  go  out  with  them 
and  discover  what  it  might  be.  They  hurried  out  together,  and 
saw  with  astonishment  the  phenomenon  which  now  appeared  to 
their  sight,  but  could  not  agree  upon  what  it  was ;  some  be 
lieved  it  to  be  an  uncommonly  large  fish  or  animal,  while  others 
were  of  opinion  it  must  be  a  very  big  house  floating  on  the  sea. 
At  length  the  spectators  concluded  that  this  wonderful  object 
was  moving  towards  the  land,  and  that  it  must  be  an  animal  or 
something  else  that  had  life  in  it ;  it  would  therefore  be  proper 
to  inform  all  the  Indians  on  the  inhabited  islands  of  what  they 

71 


72  INDIAN    ACCOUNT    OF    THE 

had  seen,  and  put  them  on  their  guard.     Accordingly  they  sent 
off  a  number  of  runners  and  watermen  to  carry  the  news  to  their 
scattered  chiefs,  that  they  might  send  off  in  every  direction  for 
the  warriors,  with  a  message  that  they  should  come  on  imme 
diately.     These   arriving   in    numbers,  and  having    themselves 
viewed   the    strange    appearance,    and    observing    that    it   was 
actually  moving  towards  the  entrance  of  the  river  or  bay ;  con 
cluded  it  to  be  a  remarkably  large  house  in  which  the  Mannitto 
(the  Great  or  Supreme  Being)  himself  was  present,  and  that  he 
probably  was  coming  to  visit  them.1     By  this  time  the  chiefs 
were  assembled  at  York  island,  and  deliberating  in  what  manner 
in  which2  they  should   receive  their  Mannitto  on  his  arrival. 
Every  measure  was  taken  to  be  well  provided  with  plenty  of 
meat  for  a  sacrifice.     The  women  were  desired  to  prepare  the 
best  victuals.     All  the  idols  or  images  were  examined  and  put  in 
order,  and  a  grand  dance  was  supposed  not  only  to  be  an  agreea 
ble  entertainment  for  the  Great  Being,  but  it  was  believed  that 
it  might,  with  the  addition  of  a  sacrifice,  contribute  to  appease 
him  if  he  was  angry  with  them.     The  conjurers  were  also  set  to 
work,  to  determine  what  this  phenomenon  portended,  and  what 
the  possible  result  of  it  might  be.     To  these  and  to  the  chiefs 
and  wise  men  of  the  nations,  men,  women,  and  children  were 
looking  up  for  advice  and  protection.     Distracted  between  hope 
and  fear,   they  were  at  a  loss  what  to  do;  a  dance,  however, 
commenced  in  great  confusion.     While  in  this  situation,  fresh 
runners  arrive  declaring  it  to  be  a  large  house  of  various  colours, 
and  crowded  with  living  creatures.    It  appears  now  to  be  certain, 
that  it  is  the  great  Mannitto,  bringing  them  some  kind  of  game, 
such  as  he  had  not  given  them  before,  but  other  runners  soon 
after  arriving  declare  that  it  is  positively  a  house  full  of  human 
beings,  of  quite  a  different  colour  from  that  of  the  Indians,  and 
dressed  differently  from  them  ;  that  in  particular  one  of  them 
was  dressed  entirely  in  red,  who  must  be  the  Mannitto  himself. 

1  Henry  Hudson,  a  British  navigator  and  discoverer  in  the  employ  of  the  Dutch 
East  India  Company,  sailed  from  Amsterdam  in  command  of  the  Half  Moon,  in 
April  of  1609,  in  search  of  a  north-eastern  passage.  Foiled  by  the  ice  in  the  higher 
latitudes,  he  turned  southwards,  and  in  September  anchored  in  New  York  bay. 

3  Dele  "  in  'which." 


FIRST    ARRIVAL    OF    THE    DUTCH.  73 

They  are  hailed  from  the  vessel  in  a  language  they  do  not 
understand,  yet  they  shout  or  yell  in  return  by  way  of  answer, 
according  to  the  custom  of  their  country;  many  are  for  running 
off  to  the  woods,  but  are  pressed  by  others  to  stay,  in  order  not 
to  give  offence  to  their  visitor,  who  might  find  them  out  and  de 
stroy  them.  The  house,  some  say,  large  canoe,  at  last  stops, 
and  a  canoe  of  a  smaller  size  comes  on  shore  with  the  red  man, 
and  some  others  in  it ;  some  stay  with  his  canoe  to  guard  it. 
The  chiefs  and  wise  men,  assembled  in  council,  form  themselves 
into  a  large  circle,  towards  which  the  man  in  red  clothes  ap 
proaches  with  two  others.  He  salutes  them  with  a  friendly 
countenance,  and  they  return  the  salute  after  their  manner. 
They  are  lost  in  admiration ;  the  dress,  the  manners,  the  whole 
appearance  of  the  unknown  strangers  is  to  them  a  subject  of 
wonder ;  but  they  are  particularly  struck  with  him  who  wore 
the  red  coat  all  glittering  with  gold  lace,  which  they  could  in  no 
manner  account  for.  He,  surely,  must  be  the  great  Mannitto, 
but  why  should  he  have  a  white  skin  ?  Meanwhile,  a  large 
Hackhack1  is  brought  by  one  of  his  servants,  from  which  an 
unknown  substance  is  poured  out  into  a  small,  cup  or  glass,  and 
handed  to  the  supposed  Mannitto.  He  drinks — has  the  glass 
filled  again,  and  hands  it  to  the  chief  standing  next  to  him. 
The  chief  receives  it,  but  only  smells  the  contents  and  passes  it 
on  to  the  next  chief,  who  does  the  san^e.  The  glass  or  cup  thus 
passes  through  the  circle,  without  the  liquor  being  tasted  by  any 
one,  and  is  upon  the  point  of  being  returned  to  the  red  clothed 
Mannitto,  when  one  of  the  Indians,  a  brave  man  and  a  great 
warrior,  suddenly  jumps  up  and  harangues  the  assembly  on 
the  impropriety  of  returning  the  cup  with  its  contents.  It  was 
handed  to  them,  says  he,  by  the  Mannitto,  that  they  should 
drink  out  of  it,  as  he  himself  had  done.  To  follow  his  example 
would  be  pleasing  to  him ;  but  to  return  what  he  had  given 
them  might  provoke  his  wrath,  and  bring  destruction  on  them. 
And  since  the  orator  believed  it  for  the  good  of  the  nation  that 
the  contents  offered  them  should  be  drunk,  and  as  no  one  else 
would  do  it,  he  would  drink  it  himself,  let  the  consequence  be 

1  Hackhack  is  properly  a   gourd;    but  since  they  have  seen   glass   bottles   and 
decanters,  they  call  them  by  the  same  name. 


74  INDIAN    ACCOUNT    OF    THE 

what  it  might;  it  was  better  for  one  man  to  die,  than  that  a 
whole  nation  should  be  destroyed.  He  then  took  the  glass,  and 
bidding  the  assembly  a  solemn  farewell,  at  once  drank  up  its 
whole  contents.  Every  eye  was  fixed  on  the  resolute  chief,  to 
see  what  effect  the  unknown  liquor  would  produce.  He  soon 
began  to  stagger,  and  at  last  fell  prostrate  on  the  ground.  His 
companions  now  bemoan  his  fate,  he  falls  into  a  sound  sleep, 
and  they  think  he  has  expired.  He  wakes  again,  jumps  up  and 
declares,  that  he  has  enjoyed  the  most  delicious  sensations,  and 
that  he  never  before  felt  himself  so  happy  as  after  he  had  drunk 
the  cup.  He  asks  for  more,  his  wish  is  granted;  the  whole 
assembly  then  imitate  him,  and  all  become  intoxicated. 

After  this  general  intoxication  had  ceased,  for  they  say  that 
while  it  lasted  the  whites  had  confined  themselves  to  their 
vessel,  the  man  with  the  red  clothes  returned  again,  and  dis 
tributed  presents  among  them,  consisting  of  beads,  axes,  hoes, 
and  stockings  such  as  the  white  people  wear.  They  soon 
became  familiar  with  each  other,  and  began  to  converse  by 
signs.  The  Dutch  made  them  understand  that  they  would  not 
stay  here,  that  they  would  return  home  again,  but  would  pay 
them  another  visit  the  next  year,  when  they  would  bring  them 
more  presents,  and  stay  with  them  awhile ;  but  as  they  could  not 
live  without  eating,  they  should  want  a  little  land  of  them  to  sow 
seeds,  in  order  to  raise  herbs  and  vegetables  to  put  into  their 
broth.  They  went  away  as  they  had  said,  and  returned  in  the 
following  season,  when  both  parties  were  much  rejoiced  to  see 
each  other ;  but  the  whites  laughed  at  the  Indians,  seeing  that 
they  knew  not  the  use  of  the  axes  and  hoes  they  had  given 
them  the  year  before;  for  they  had  these  hanging  to  their 
breasts  as  ornaments,  and  the  stockings  were  made  use  of  as 
tobacco  pouches.  The  whites  now  put  handles  to  the  former 
for  them,  and  cut  trees  down  before  their  eyes,  hoed  up  the 
ground,  and  put  the  stockings  on  their  legs.  Here,  they  say,  a 
general  laughter  ensued  among  the  Indians,  that  they  had 
remained  ignorant  of  the  use  of  such  valuable  implements,  and 
had  borne  the  weight  of  such  heavy  metal  hanging  to  their 
necks,  for  such  a  length  of  time.  They  took  every  white  man 
they  saw  for  an  inferior  Mannitto  attendant  upon  the  supreme 


FIRST    ARRIVAL    OF    THE    DUTCH.  75 

Deity  who  shone  superior  in  the  red  and  laced  clothes.  As 
the  whites  became  daily  more  familiar  with  the  Indians,  they  at 
last  proposed  to  stay  with  them,  and  asked  only  for  so  much 
ground  for  a  garden  spot  as,  they  said,  the  hide  of  a  bullock 
would  cover  or  encompass,  which  hide  was  spread  before  them. 
The  Indians  readily  granted  this  apparently  reasonable  request; 
but  the  whites  then  took  a  knife,  and  beginning  at  one  end 
of  the  hide,  cut  it  up  to  a  long  rope,  not  thicker  than  a  child's 
finger,  so  that  by  the  time  the  whole  was  cut  up,  it  made  a 
great  heap  ;  they  then  took  the  rope  at  one  end,  and  drew 
it  gently  along,  carefully  avoiding  its  breaking.  It  was  drawn 
out  into  a  circular  form,  and  being  closed  at  its  ends,  encom 
passed  a  large  piece  of  ground.  The  Indians  were  surprised  at 
the  superior  wit  of  the  whites,1  but  did  not  wish  to  contend 
with  them  about  a  little  land,  as  they  had  still  enough  them 
selves.  The  white  and  red  men  lived  contentedly  together  for  a 
long  time,  though  the  former  from  time  to  time  asked  for  more 
land,  which  was  readily  obtained,  and  thus  they  gradually  pro 
ceeded  higher  up  the  Mahicannittuck,  until  the  Indians  began 
to  believe  that  they  would  soon  want  all  their  country,  which 
in  the  end  proved  true. 

1  These  Dutchmen  were  probably  acquainted  with  what  is  related  of  Queen  Dido 
in  ancient  history,  and  thus  turned  their  classical  knowledge  to  a  good  account. 


CHAPTER   III. 

INDIAN   RELATIONS  OF  THE  CONDUCT  OF  THE  EUROPEANS 
TOWARDS   THEM. 


and  dismal  are  the  complaints  which  the  Indians 
make  of  European  ingratitude  and  injustice.  They 
love  to  repeat  them,  and  always  do  it  with  the  elo 
quence  of  nature,  aided  by  an  energetic  and  compre 
hensive  language,  which  our  polished  idioms  cannot  imitate. 
Often  I  have  listened  to  these  descriptions  of  their  hard  suffer 
ings,  until  I  felt  ashamed  of  being  a  white  man. 

They  are,  in  general,  very  minute  in  these  recitals,  and  pro 
ceed  with  a  great  degree  of  order  and  regularity.  They  begin 
with  the  Virginians,  whom  they  call  the  long  knives,  and  who 
were  the  first  European  settlers  in  this  part  of  the  American 
continent.  "  It  was  we,"  say  the  Lenape,  Mohicans,  and  their 
kindred  tribes,  "  who  so  kindly  received  them  on  their  first 
arrival  into  our  country.  We  took  them  by  the  hand,  and  bid 
them  welcome  to  sit  down  by  our  side,  and  live  with  us  as 
brothers  ;  but  how  did  they  requite  our  kindness  ?  They  at  first 
asked  only  for  a  little  land  on  which  to  raise  bread  for  them 
selves  and  their  families,  and  pasture  for  their  cattle,  which  we 
freely  gave  them.  They  soon  wanted  more,  which  we  also  gave 
them.  They  saw  the  game  in  the  woods,  which  the  Great 
Spirit  had  given  us  for  our  subsistence,  and  they  wanted  that 
too.  They  penetrated  into  the  woods  in  quest  of  game  ;  they 
discovered  spots  of  land  which  pleased  them  ;  that  land  they 
also  wanted,  and  because  we  were  loth  to  part  with  it,  as  we  saw  XN 
they  had  already  more  than  they  had  need  of,  they  took  it  from 

76 


INDIAN    RELATIONS,    ETC.  77 

us  by  force,  and  drove  us  to  a  great  distance  from  our  ancient 
homes." 

"  By  and  by  the  Dittchemaan *  arrived  at  Manahachtdnienk" 2 
(here  they  relate  with  all  its  details  what  has  been  said  in  the 
preceding  chapter.)  "  The  great  man  wanted  only  a  little,  little 
land,  on  which  to  raise  greens  for  his  soup,  just  as  much  as  a 
bullock's  hide  would  cover.  Here  we  first  might  have  observed 
their  deceitful  spirit.  The  bullock's  hide  was  cut  up  into  little 
strips,  and  did  not  cover,  indeed,  but  encircled  a  very  large  piece 
of  land,  which  we  foolishly  granted  to  them.  They  were  to 
raise  greens  on  it,  instead  of  which  they  planted  great  guns ; 
afterwards  they  built  strong  houses,  made  themselves  masters 
of  the  Island,  then  went  up  the  river  to  our  enemies,  the  Mengwe, 
made  a  league  with  them,  persuaded  us  by  their  wicked  arts  to 
lay  down  our  arms,  and  at  last  drove  us  entirely  out  of  the 
country."  Here,  of  course,  is  related  at  full  length,  the  story 
which  we  have  told  in  the  first  chapter.  Then  the  Delawares3 
proceed. 

"  When  the  Yengeese*  arrived  at  Machtitschwanne?  they  looked 
about  everywhere  for  good  spots  of  land,  and  when  they  found 
one,  they  immediately  and  without  ceremony  possessed  them 
selves  of  it ;  we  were  astonished,  but  still  we  let  them  go  on 
not  thinking  it  worth  while  to  contend  for  a  little  land.  Butj 
when  at  last  they  came  to  our  favourite  spots,  those  which  lay 
most  convenient  to  our  fisheries,  then  bloody  wars  ensued :  we 
would  have  been  contented  that  the  white  people  and  we  should 
have  lived  quietly  beside  each  other;  but  these  white  men  en 
croached  so  fast  upon  us,  that  we  saw  at  once  we  should  lose 
all,  if  we  did  not  resist  them.  The  wars  that  we  carried  on 
against  each  other  were  long  and  cruel.  We  were  enraged  when 

1  The  Hollanders. 

2  Manhattan,  or  New  York  Island. 

3  For  "Delawares  "  read  "Mohicans" 

4  An  Indian  corruption  of  the  word  English,  whence  probably  the  nickname 
Yankees. 

5  This  word  means     a  cluster  of  islands  with  channels  every  way,  so  that  it  is  in 
no  place  shut  up  or  impassable  for  craft."     The  Indians  think  that  the  white  people 
have  corrupted  this  word  into  Massachusetts.      It  deserves  to  bfe  remarked  as  an 
example  of  the  comprehensiveness  of  the  Indian  languages. 


78  INDIAN    RELATIONS    OF    THE    CONDUCT 

I  we  saw  the  white  people  put  our  friends  and  relatives,  whom 
they  had  taken  prisoners,  on  board  of  their  ships,  and  carry  them 
off  to  sea,  whether  to  drown  or  sell  them  as  slaves,  in  the 
country  from  which  they  came,  we  knew  not,  but  certain  it  is 
that  none  of  them  have  ever  returned  or  even  been  heard  of.  At 
last  they  got  possession  of  the  whole  of  the  country  which  the 
Great  Spirit  had  given  us.  One  of  our  tribes  was  forced  to 
wander  far  beyond  Quebec;  others  dispersed  in  small  bodies, 
and  sought  places  of  refuge  where  they  could;  some  came  to 
Pennsylvania;  others  went  far  to  the  westward  and  mingled 
with  other  tribes. 

"  To  many  of  those,  Pennsylvania  was  a  last,  delightful 
asylum.  But  here,  again,  the  Europeans  disturbed  them,  and 
forced  them  to  emigrate,  although  they  had  been  most  kindly 
and  hospitably  received.  On  which  ever  side  of  the  Lenapewi- 
hittuck^  the  white  people  landed,  they  were  welcomed  as  brothers 
by  our  ancestors,  who  gave  them  lands  to  live  on,  and  even 
hunted  for  them,  and  furnished  them  with  meat  out  of  the 
woods.  Such  was  our  conduct  to  the  white  men2  who  inhabited 
this  country,  until  our  elder  brother,  the  great  and  good  MiQUON,3 
came  and  brought  us  words  of  peace  and  good  will.  We  be 
lieved  his  words,  and  his  memory  is  still  held  in  veneration 
among  us.  But  it  was  not  long  before  our  joy  was  turned  into 
sorrow  :  our  brother  Miquon  died,  and  those  of  his  good  coun 
sellors  who  were  of  his  mind,  and  knew  what  had  passed 
between  him  and  our  ancestors,  were  no  longer  listened  to ;  the 
strangers4  who  had  taken  their  places,  no  longer  spoke  to  us  of 
sitting  down  by  the  side  of  each  other  as  brothers  of  one 
family;  they  forgot  that  friendship  which  their  great  man  had 
established  with  us,  and  was  to  last  to  the  end  of  time ;  they 
now  only  strove  to  get  all  our  land  from  us  by  fraud  or  by  force, 
and  when  we  attempted  to  remind  them  of  what  our  good 
brother  had  said,  they  became  angry,  and  sent  word  to  our  ene- 

1  The  Delaware  river.     I  have  said  above,  p.  51,  that  Hittuck  means  a  rapid 
stream.     I  should  have  added  that  it  means  so  only  when  placed  at  the  end  of 
another  word,  and  used  as  a  compound.     Singly,  it  signifies  a  tree. 

2  The  Swedes  and  Dutch. 

3  William  Penn.' 

*  Land  traders  and  speculators. 


OF    THE    EUROPEANS    TOWARDS    THEM.  79 

mies,  the  Mengwe,  to  meet  them  at  a  great  council  which  they 
were  to  hold  with  us  at  Lcehauwake^  where  they  should  take  us 
by  the  hair  of  our  heads  and  shake  us  well.  The  Mengwe 
came ;  the  council  was  held,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  white 
men,  who  did  not  contradict  them,  they  told  us  that  we  were 
women,  and  that  they  had  made  us  such ;  that  we  had  no  right 
to  any  land,  because  it  was  all  theirs  ;  that  we  must  be  gone ; 
and  that  as  a  great  favour  they  permitted  us  to  go  and  settle 
further  into  the  country,  at  the  place  which  they  themselves 
pointed  out  at  Wyoming."2 

Thus  these  good  Indians,  with  a  kind  of  melancholy  pleasure, 
recite  the  long  history  of  their  sufferings.  After  having  gone 
through  these  painful  details,  they  seldom  fail  to  indulge  in 
bitter,  but  too  just  reflections,  upon  the  men  of  Europe.  "We 
and  our  kindred  tribes,"  say  they,  "lived  in  peace  and  harmony 
with  each  other  before  the  white  people  came  into  this  country ; 
our  council  house3  extended  far  to  the  north  and  far  to  the 
south.  In  the  middle  of  it  we  would  meet  from  all  parts  to 
smoke  the  pipe  of  peace  together.  When  the  white  men 
arrived  in  the  south,  we  received  them  as  friends ;  we  did  the 
same  when  they  arrived  in  the  east.  It  was  we,  it  was  our  fore 
fathers,  who  made  them  welcome,  and  let  them  sit  down  by  our 
side.  The  land  they  settled  on  was  ours.  We  knew  not  but 
the  Great  Spirit  had  sent  them  to  us  for  some  good  purpose, 
and  therefore  we  thought  they  must  be  a  good  people.  We 
were  mistaken  ;  for  no  sooner  had  they  obtained  a  footing  on 
our  lands,  than  they  began  to  pull  our  council  house  down,4  first 
at  one  end  and  then  at  the  other,  and  at  last  meeting  each  other 
at  the  centre,  where  the  council  fire  was  yet  burning  bright,  they 
put  it  out,5  and  extinguished  it  with  our  own  blood!6  with  the 

1  Eastern,  Northampton  County,  Pa. 

2  This  actually  took  place  at  a  treaty  held  at  Easton  in  July  and  November,  1756. 

3  Council  hottse  here  means  "Connexion  District." 

4  Pulling  the  council  house  down.     Destroying,  dispersing  the  community,  pre 
venting  their  further  intercourse  with  each  other,  by  settling  between  them  on  their 
land. 

5  Ptitting  the  fire  out.      Murdering  them  or  their  people,  where  they  assemble  for 
pacific  purposes,  where  treaties  are  held,  &c. 

6  Our  own  blood.     The  blood  flowing  from  the  veins  of  some  of  our  community. 


80  INDIAN    RELATIONS    OF    THE    CONDUCT 

blood  of  those l  who  with  us  had  received  them !  who  had  wel 
comed  them  in  our  land !  Their  blood  ran  in  streams  into  our 
fire,  and  extinguished  it  so  entirely,  that  not  one  spark  was  left 
us  whereby  to  kindle  a  new  fire  ;2  we  were  compelled  to  with 
draw  ourselves  beyond  the  great  swamp,3  and  to  fly  to  our  good 
uncle,  the  Delamattenos?  who  kindly  gave  us  a  tract  of  land  to 
live  on.  How  long  we  shall  be  permitted  to  remain  in  this 
asylum,  the  Great  Spirit  only  knows.  The  whites  will  not  rest 
contented  until  they  shall  have  destroyed  the  last  of  us,  and 
made  us  disappear  entirely  from  the  face  of  the  earth." 

I  have  given  here  only  a  brief  specimen  of  the  charges  which 
they  exhibit  against  the  white  people.  There  are  men  among 
them,  who  have  by  heart  the  whole  history  of  what  took  place 
between  the  whites  and  the  Indians,  since  the  former  first  came 
into  their  country ;  and  relate  the  whole  with  ease  and  with 
an  eloquence  not  to  be  imitated.  On  the  tablets  of  their  mem 
ories  they  preserve  this  record  for  posterity.  I,  at  one  time, 
in  April,  1787,*  was  astonished  when  I  heard  one  of  their  orators, 
a  great  chief  of  the  Delaware  nation,6  go  over  this  ground,  re 
capitulating  the  most  extraordinary  events  which  had  before 

1  Alluding  to  the  murder  of  the  Conestogo  Indians,  who,  though  of  another  tribe, 
yet  had  joined  them  in  welcoming  the  white  people  to  their  shores. 

In  a  narrative  of  this  lamentable  event,  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  the  late 
Dr.  Franklin,  it  is  said :  "  On  the  first  arrival  of  the  English  in  Pennsylvania,  mes 
sengers  from  this  tribe  came  to  welcome  them  with  presents  of  venison,  corn,  and 
skins,  and  the  whole  tribe  entered  into  a  treaty  of  friendship  with  the  first  proprietor, 
William  Penn,  which  was  to  last  as  long  as  the  sun  should  shine,  or  the  waters  run 
in  the  rivers." 

*  The  fire  was  entirely  extinguished  by  the  blood  of  the  murdered  running  into  it ; 
not  a  spark  "was  left  to  kindle  a  new  fire.  This  alludes  to  the  last  fire  that  was  kin 
dled  by  the  Pennsylvania  government  and  themselves  at  Lancaster,  where  the  last 
treaty  was  held  with  them  in  1762,  the  year  preceding  this  murder,  which  put  an 
end  to  all  business  of  the  kind  in  the  province  of  Pennsylvania. 

3  The  great  Swamp.     The  Glades  on  the  Allegheny  mountains. 

4  Delamattenos.     The  Hurons  or  Wyandots,  whom  they  call  their  uncle.     These, 
though  speaking   a  dialect  of  the  Iroquois  language,  are  in  connexion  with  the 
Lenape. 

5  For  "1787"  read  "1781." 

0  [These  were  the  words  of  a  war-chief  of  the  Delawares,  Pachgantschih.il as  by 
name,  in  the  course  of  an  address  to  the  Moravian  Indians  at  Gnadenhutten,  in 
which  he  sought  to  persuade  them  to  remove  from  their  exposed  position  on  the 
Tuscarawas  to  a  place  of  safety  among  the  Wyandots  of  the  Maumee.] 


OF    THE    EUROPEANS    TOWARDS    THEM.  8l 

happened,  and  concluding  in  these  words  :  "  I  admit  that  there 
are  good  white  men,  but  they  bear  no  proportion  to  the  bad; 
the  bad  must  be  the  strongest,  for  they  rule.  They  do  what 
they  please.  They  enslave  those  who  are  not  of  their  colour, 
although  created  by  the  same  Great  Spirit  who  created  us.1 
They  would  make  slaves  of  us  if  they  could,  but  as  they  cannot 
do  it,  they  kill  us  !  There  is  no  faith  to  be  placed  in  their  words. 
They  are  not  like  the  Indians,  who  are  only  enemies,  while  at 
war,  and  are  friends  in  peace.  They  will  say  to  an  Indian,  '  my 
friend!  my  brother  !'  They  will  take  him  by  the  hand,  and  at 
the  same  moment  destroy  him.  And  so  you  (addressing  him 
self  to  the  Christian  Indians)  will  also  be  treated  by  them 
before  long.  Remember !  that  this  day  I  have  warned  you  to 
beware  of  such  friends  as  these.  I  know  the  long  knives ;  they 
are  not  to  be  trusted." 

Eleven  months  after  this  speech  was  delivered  by  this  pro 
phetic  chief,  ninety-six  of  the  same  Christian  Indians,  about 
sixty  of  them  women  and  children,  were  murdered  at  the  place 
where  these  very  words  had  been  spoken,  by  the  same  men  he 
had  alluded  to,  and  in  the  same  manner  that  he  had  described. 
See  Loskiel's  History,  part  III.,  ch.  IO.2 

1  For  "us"  read  "them." 

2  [The  massacre  of  Moravian  Indians  at  Gnadenhutten  was  perpetrated  on  the  8th 
of  March,  1782,  by  militia  led  by  Col.  David  Williamson,  of  Washington  County, 
Pa.     The  details  of  this  atrocious  affair  are  very  minutely  given  by  De  Schweinitz 
in   The  Life  and  Times  of  David  Zeisberger,     While  such  of  the  borderers  as  had 
suffered  from  Indian  forays  sought  to  extenuate  the  deplorable  transaction,  it  was  at 
the  same  time  made  the  subject  of  an  investigation  at  the  head-quarters  of  the  depart 
ment.     With  what  result,  however,  is  inferable  from  the  following  extract  from  a 
letter  written  by  Gen.  Irvine  to  His  Excellency  William  Moore,  President  of  the 
Supreme  Executive  Council  of  Pennsylvania,  and  dated  Fort  Pitt,  May  9,  1782: — 
"  Since  my  letter  of  the  3d  inst.  to  your  excellency,  Mr.  Pentecost  and  Mr.  Cannon 
have  been  with  me.     They,  and  every  intelligent  person  whom  I  have  consulted 
with  on  the  subject,  are  of  opinion  that  it  will  be  almost  impossible  ever  to  obtain  a 
just  account  of  the  conduct  of  the  militia  at  Muskingum.  No  man  can  give  any  account, 
except  some  of  the  party  themselves ;  if,  therefore,  an  inquiry  should  appear  serious, 
they  are  not  obliged,  nor  will  they  give  evidence.     For  this  and  other  reasons,  I  am 
of  opinion  farther  inquiry  into  the  matter  will  not  only  be  fruitless,  but  in  the  end 
may  be  attended  with  dangerous  consequences.     A  volunteer  expedition  is  talked  of 
against  Sandusky,  which,  if  well  conducted,  may  be  of  great  service  to  this  country, 
if  they  behave  well  on  this  occasion.     It  may  also  in  some  measure  atone  for  the 

6 


82  INDIAN    RELATIONS,    ETC. 

barbarity  they  are  charged  with  at  Muskingum.  They  have  consulted  me,  and  shall 
have  every  countenance  in  my  power,  if  their  numbers,  arrangements,  &c.,  promise 
a  prospect  of  success."  MS.  in  the  Irvine  Collection.] 

[The  following  is  a  letter  from  Col.  John  Gibson,  to  the  Right  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Seidel,  senior  Bishop  of  the  Moravian  Church  at  Bethlehem,  dated  Fort  Pitt,  May  9, 
1782. 

«SiR: — Your  letter  by  Mr.  Shebosh  of  the  nth  ult.,  came  safe  to  hand.  I  am 
happy  to  find  that  the  few  small  services  I  rendered  to  the  gentlemen  of  your 
society  in  this  quarter,  meet  with  the  approbation  of  you  and  every  other  worthy 
character. 

"  Mr.  Shebosh  will  be  able  to  give  you  a  particular  account  of  the  late  horrid 
massacre  perpetrated  at  the  towns  on  Muskingum,  by  a  set  of  men  the  most  savage 
miscreants  that  ever  degraded  human  nature.  Had  I  have  known  of  their  intention 
before  it  was  too  late,  I  should  have  prevented  it  by  informing  the  poor  sufferers 
of  it. 

"  I  am  in  hopes  in  a  few  days  to  be  able  to  send  you  a  more  particular  account 
than  any  that  has  yet  transpired,  as  I  hope  to  obtain  the  deposition  of  a  person  who 
was  an  eye-witness  of  the  whole  transaction,  and  disapproved  of  it.  Should  any 
accounts  come  to  hand  from  Mr.  Zeisberger,  or  the  other  gentlemen  of  your  society, 
you  may  depend  on  my  transmitting  them  to  you.  Please  present  my  compliments 
to  Mr.  William  Henry,  Jr.,  &c. 

"  Believe  me,  with  esteem,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

"JNO.  GIBSON, 
"  Col.  7th  Virginia  Reg't."] 


CHAPTER    IV. 

SUBSEQUENT    FATE    OF   THE    LENAPE   AND    THEIR    KINDRED 

TRIBES. 

FTER  the  murder  of  the  Conestogo  Indians,  the 
Lenni  Lenape  thought  proper,  for  their  safety,  to 
withdraw  altogether  from  the  interior  of  the  white 
settlements,  into  the  wilds  of  the  Susquehannah 
country ;  and  Government,  conscious  that  they  could  no  longer 
protect  any  Indians,  or  body  of  Indians,  whether  Christians  or 
not,  in  the  settled  parts  of  the  province,  advised  the  Christian 
Indians,  whom,  during  the  last  troubles,  they  had  with  difficulty 
prevented  from  sharing  the  fate  of  the  Conestogos,  to  retire  into 
the  back  country.  They  did  so,  and  settled  at  Wyalusing,1  which 
then  became  the  nearest  settlement  of  Indians  to  the  white  in 
habitants,  being  upwards  of  150  miles  north  of  Philadelphia, 
and  about  100  miles  from  the  frontier  settlers  beyond  the  blue 
mountains  ;  all  the  other  Indians  of  that  nation,  together  with 
the  Nanticokes,  lived  then  higher  up  the  Susquehannah.  For 
about  five  years,  the  Indians  on  this  river  enjoyed  peace,  and  the 
Christian  Indians  lived  quietly  here  and  at  another  settlement 
they  had  made  thirty  miles  higher,  built  good  houses  for  them 
selves,  together  with  a  spacious  church,  planted  fruit  trees,  and 
put  large  bodies  of  land  under  cultivation.  But,  while  they 
were  flattering  themselves  with  the  most  favourable  prospect, 
they  were  informed  that  the  Six  Nations  had  sold  the  whole 
country,  including  the  land  they  lived  on,  to  the  English. 

1  [For  a  full  account  of  this  exodus,  the  reader  is  referred  to  a  paper  entitled 
"Wyalusing  and  the  Moravian  Mission  at  Friedenshutten,"  by  W.  C.  Reichel,  in 
Part  5  (1871)  of  the  Transactions  of  the  Moravian  Historical  Society.] 


84          SUBSEQUENT  FATE  OF  THE  LENAPE 

They  soon  saw  the  object  of  this  clandestine  proceeding,  of 
which  they  had  not  received  the  least  notice,  and  foreseeing 
what  kind  of  neighbours  they  should  have,  if  they  should  stay 
where  they  were,  they  determined  to  move  off  in  a  body  to  the 
Ohio,  where  they  had  received  an  invitation  to  settle  from  the 
grand  council  of  their  nation.  Accordingly,  two  hundred  and 
forty-one  souls  set  off  directly  for  the  Muskingum  river,  where  a 
large  tract  of  land  was  given  them,  out  of  that  which  the  Wyan- 
dots  had  formerly  granted  and  confirmed  to  their  people  ;  the 
other  Indians  of  the  same  nation  residing  on  the  Susquehannah 
soon  followed,  some  settling  at  one  place,  some  at  another;  the 
Mouseys,1  however,  joined  their  own  tribe,  who  long  since  had 
emigrated  and  were  settled  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Allegheny 
river ;  and  so  the  whole  country  east  of  the  Allegheny  moun 
tains  was  cleared  of  its  original  inhabitants. 

The  Delawares  thus  became  at  once  released  from  their 
troublesome  neighbours  the  Iroquois,  who  had  calculated  on 
their  settling  near  them,  at  a  place  they  had  already  fixed  upon  ; 
but  they  were  mistaken,  for  with  all  their  fair  speeches  they 
could  not  persuade  the  Lenape,  who  gave  them  plainly  to  under 
stand  that  they  were  no  longer  inclined  to  listen  to  a  people  who 
had  so  long  and  so  often  deceived  them. 

This  happened  in  the  year  I/68,2  about  six  years  before  the 
beginning  of  the  revolutionary  war.  During  which  short  period 
of  tranquillity,  the  numbers  of  the  Christian  Indians  on  the  Ohio 
rapidly  increased,  and  never  was  there  such  a  fair  prospect  of 
their  being  fixed  in  a  state  of  prosperous  civilisation.  But  the 
revolution  put  an  end  to  these  hopes,  and  this  opportunity  was 
lost,  perhaps,  never  to  return  again.  It  was  not  the  fault  of  the 
American  government,  who  were  truly  desirous  of  seeing  the 
Indians  adopt  a  neutral  line  of  conduct,  and  repeatedly  advised 
them  not  to  interfere  in  the  quarrel  between  the  colonies  and 
the  mother  country ;  happy  would  it  have  been  if  the  British 
government  had  acted  in  the  same  manner;  but  they  pursued  a 
different  plan.  These  poor  deluded  people  were  dragged  into  a 
war  in  which  they  had  no  concern,  by  which  not  only  their 

1  For  "  Mouseys"  read  "  Monseys." 

2  For  "  1768,  about  six,"  read  "  1772,  a  few." 


AND    THEIR    KINDRED    TRIBES.  8$ 

population  was  gradually  reduced,  but  they  lost  the  desire  of 
becoming  a  civilised  people  ;  for  the  Americans,  at  last,  become 
exasperated  against  them,  and  considering  all  Indians  as  their 
enemies,  they  sent  parties  out  from  time  to  time  to  destroy 
them.  The  murder  of  the  Christian  Indians  on  the  Muskinsrum 

o 

in  1782,  completed  their  alienation.  Those  who  yet  remained 
were  driven  to  despair,  and  finally  dispersed. 

It  is  not  in  my  power  to  ascertain  the  whole  number  of  the 
Lenni  Lenape,  or  Delaware  Indians,  still  existing  at  the  present 
time.  As  far  as  I  am  informed,  they  are  very  much  scattered,  a 
number  of  them,  chiefly  of  the  Monsey  tribe,  living  in  Upper 
Canada,  others  are  in  the  state  of  Ohio,  and  some  on  the  waters 
of  the  Wabash  in  the  Indiana  territory.  A  considerable  number 
of  them  has  crossed  the  Mississippi.  Their  first  emigrations  to 
that  country  had  already  begun  between  the  years  1780  and 
1790.  What  the  numbers  of  this  nation  were  when  the  Euro 
peans  first  came  into  this  country  is  difficult  to  tell ;  all  I  can  say 
is,  that  so  early  as  1760,  their  oldest  men  would  say  that  they 
were  not  then  as  many  hundreds  as  they  had  been  thousands. 
They  have  considerably  decreased  since  that  period.  I  saw  them 
myself  between  the  years  1754  and  1760,  by  hundreds  at  a  time, 
and  Loskiel  in  his  history  gives  an  account  of  upwards  of  800 
having  been  fed  at  Bethlehem  in  one  year.  In  the  year  1762, 
while  I  lived  at  Tuscorawas  on  the  Muskingum,  they  were 
settled  on  that  river  and  its  branches,  and  also  on  the  Cayahoga 
river,  which  empties  into  Lake  Erie,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
which  they  had  since  a  small  Christian  settlement  called  Pil- 
gerruh  (Pilgrim's  rest.)1' 2 

THE  SHAWANOS  OR  SAWANOS.S 
THE  history  of  these  people   is  here  given,  principally  from 

1  Loskiel,  part  III.,  ch.  12. 

2  [Pilgerruh  on  the  Cuyahoga,  within  the  limits  of  what  is  now  Independence 
township,  Cuyahoga  County,  Ohio,  was  the  seat  of  the  mission  during  the  time  of  the 
dispersion  in  the  interval  between  May  of  1786,  and  April  of  1787.] 

3  General  John  Gibson  thinks  that  Sawano  is  their  proper  name ;  they  are  so  called 
by  the  other  Indian  nations,  from  their  being  a  southern  people.     Shawaneu,  in  the 
Lenape  language,  means  the  south;  Shawanachau?  the  south  wind,  &c.    We  com 
monly  call  them  the  Shawanese. 

*    For  "  Shawanackau  "   read   "  Shaivanachan." 


86          SUBSEQUENT  FATE  OF  THE  LENAPE 

the  relations  of  old  Indians  of  the  Mohican1  tribe,  who  say  that 
they  formerly  inhabited  the  Southern  country,  Savannah  in 
Georgia,  and  the  Floridas.  They  were  a  restless  people,  delight 
ing  in  wars,  in  which  they  were  constantly  engaged  with  some 
of  the  neighbouring  nations.  At  last  their  neighbours,  tired  of 
being  continually  harassed  by  them,  formed  a  league  for  their 
destruction.  The  Shawanos  finding  themselves  thus  danger 
ously  situated,  asked  to  be  permitted  to  leave  the  country,  which 
was  granted  to  them,  and  they  fled  immediately  to  the  Ohio. 
Here  their  main  body  settled,  and  sent  messengers  to  their 
elder  brother2  the  Mohicans,  requesting  them  to  intercede  for 
them  with  their  grandfather  the  Lenni  Lenape,  that  he  might 
take  them  under  his  protection.  This  the  Mohicans  willingly 
did,  and  even  sent  a  body  of  their  own  people  to  conduct  their 
younger  brother  into  the  country  of  the  Delawares.  The  Shawa 
nos  rinding  themselves  safe  under  the  protection  of  their  grand 
father,  did  not  all  choose  to  proceed  farther  to  the  eastward,  but 
many  of  them  remained  on  the  Ohio,  some  of  whom  settled 
even  as  high  up  that  river  as  the  long  island,  above  which  the 
French  afterwards  built  Fort  Duquesne,  now  Pittsburg.  Those 
who  proceeded  farther,  were  accompanied  by  their  chief,  named 
Gachgawatschiqua,  and  settled  principally  at  and  about  the 
forks  of  Delaware,  some  few  between  that  and  the  confluence 
of  Delaware  and  Schuylkill,  and  some  even  on  the  spot  where 
Philadelphia  now  stands ;  others  were  conducted  by  the  Mo 
hicans  into  their  own  country,  where  they  intermarried  with 
them  and  became  one  people.  When  those  settled  near  the 
Delaware  had  multiplied,  they  returned  to  Wyoming  on  the 
Susquehannah,  where  they  resided  for  a  great  number  of  years. 
In  the  mean  while,  those  who  had  remained  on  the  Ohio  in 
creased  in  numbers,  and  in  process  of  time  began  again  to 
be  troublesome  to  their  neighbours.  At  last,  they  crossed  the 
Allegheny  mountains,  and  falling  upon  the  camps  of  the  Lenape 
on  Juniata  river,  they  committed  several  murders  and  went  off 
with  their  plunder.  It  was  soon  discovered  who  were  the 
aggressors;  but  the  Lenape  had  now  assumed  the  station  of 

1  The  Shawanos  call  the  Mohicans  their  elder  brother. 

2  Loskiel,  part  II.,  ch.  10. 


AND    THEIR    KINDRED    TRIBES.  87 

"the  woman,"  and  could  not  engage  in  wars.  They  could  only 
apply  for  protection  to  the  Five  Nations,  which  they  did, 
expecting  that  they  would  immediately  pursue  the  offenders 
and  inflict  an  exemplary  punishment  upon  them,  but  the  Five 
Nations  found  means  to  evade  their  demand  for  the  present. 
They  told  the  Delawares  that  the  season  was  too  far  advanced 
to  commence  a  war;  that  it  was  better  to  put  off  their  intended 
expedition  until  the  ensuing  spring ;  that  in  the  mean  time,  both 
nations  should  put  themselves  in  readiness,  and  keep  their 
preparations  secret,  and  that  as  soon  as  the  season  should  open, 
they  would  march  off  separately  and  meet  together  at  an 
appointed  time  and  place  on  the  Allegheny,  then  push  on 
together  for  the  Shawano  towns  below  the  confluence  of  that 
river  and  the  Monongahela,  where  they  could  fall  together 
unawares  on  the  aggressors  and  punish  them.  The  Iroquois 
promised,  as  usual,  that  they  would  place  themselves  in  the 
front  of  the  battle,  so  that  the  Delawares  would  have  nothing  to 
do  but  to  look  on  and  see  how  bravely  their  protectors  would 
fight  for  them,  and  if  they  were  not  satisfied  with  that,  they 
might  take  their  revenge  themselves. 

Agreeably  to  this  plan,  the  Lenape  remained  quiet  till  the 
spring,  when,  with  a  body  of  their  most  valiant  men,  they 
marched  to  the  appointed  spot;  but  how  great  was  their 
surprise  when  their  pretended  champions  did  not  make  their 
appearance?  They  suspected  treachery,  and  were  not  mis 
taken  ;  for  having  immediately  marched  forward  to  the  Shawano 
towns,  bent  on  taking  an  exemplary  revenge,  they  had  the  dis 
appointment  to  see  on  their  arrival  their  enemies  pushing  off  as 
fast  as  they  could  down  the  Ohio  river  in  their  canoes.  Some 
of  them  were  flying  by  land,  as  probably  they  had  not  a  suffi 
cient  number  of  canoes  to  convey  their  whole  number ;  these 
they  pursued  and  attacked,  beat  them  severely,  and  took  several 
prisoners.  Here  they  had  a  striking  instance  of  the  treachery 
of  the  Mengwe,  who  had  warned  the  Shawanos  of  their  ap 
proach.  Some  time  after  this,  the  Shawanos  who  resided  on 
the  north  branch  of  the  Susquehannah,  began  to  draw  off  by 
degrees,  first  to  the  west  branch  of  that  river  and  the  Juniata, 
and  then  to  the  Ohio  :  so  that  at  the  commencement  of  the 


88  SUBSEQUENT    FATE    OF    THE    LENAPE 

French  war  in  1755,  they  had  all,  except  a  few  families,  with 
whom  was  their  chief  Paxnos,  retired  to  the  Ohio,  where  they 
joined  their  countrymen  in  a  war  against  the  English.1 

Peace  was  made  in  1763  between  Great  Britain  and  France; 
but  the  restless  spirit  of  the  Shawanos  did  not  permit  them  to 
remain  quiet;  they  commenced  war2  against  their  southern 
neighbours,  the  Cherokees,  who,  while  in  pursuit  of  the  aggress 
ors,  would  sometimes  through  mistake  fall  upon  the  Lenape, 
who  resided  in  the  same  country  with  the  Shawanos,  through 
whom  they  also  became  involved  in  a  war  with  that  nation, 
which  lasted  some  time.  The  Mengwe  being  then  also  at  war 
with  the  Cherokees,  and  frequently  returning  with  their  prison 
ers  and  scalps  through  their  country,  the  warlike  spirit  was  kept 
alive  among  all,  until  at  length,  in  1768,  the  Cherokees  sought  a 
renewal  of  the  friendship  formerly  existing  between  them  and 
their  grandfather,  the  Lenape,  which  being  effected,  they,  by 
their  mediation,  also  brought  about  a  peace  between  them  and 
the  Five  Nations. 

The  Shawanos  not  being  disposed  to  continue  the  war  with 
the  Cherokees  by  themselves,  and  having  been  reprimanded  by 
their  grandfather  for  being  the  instigators  of  all  those  troubles, 
willingly  submitted  to  the  dictates  of  the  Lenape,  and  from  that 

1  While  these  people  lived  at  Wyoming  and  in  its  vicinity,  they  were  frequently 
visited  by  missionaries  of  the  Society  of  the  United  Brethren,  who,  knowing  them 
to  be  the  most  depraved  and  ferocious  tribe  of  all  the  Indian  nations  they  had  heard 
of,  sought  to  establish  a  friendship  with  them,  so  as  not  to  be  interrupted  in  their 
journies  from  one  Indian  Mission  to  another.     Count  Zinzendorf  being  at  that  time 
in  the  country,  went  in  1 742  with  some  other  missionaries  to  visit  them  at  Wyoming, 
stayed  with  them  20  days,  and  endeavoured  to  impress  the  gospel  truths  upon  their 
minds;  but   these   hardened   people,  suspecting  his  views,  and   believing  that  he 
wanted  to  purchase  their  land,  on  which  it  was  reported  there  were  mines  of  silver, 
conspired  to  murder  him,  and  would  have  effected  their  purpose,  but  that  Conrad 
\Veiser,  the  Indian  interpreter,  arrived  fortunately  in  time  to  prevent  it.     (Loskiel, 
part  II.,  ch.   i.)     Notwithstanding  this,  the  Brethren  frequently  visited  them,  and 
Shehellemus,  a  chief  of  great  influence,  having  become  their  friend  (Loskiel,  ibid, 
ch.  8),  they  could  now  travel  with  greater  safety.     He  died  at  Shamokin  in   1749; 
the  Brethren  were,  however,  fortunate  enough  to  obtain  the  friendship  of  Paxnos  cr 
Paxsinos,  another  chief  of  the  Shawanos,  who  gave  them  full  proof  of  it  by  sending 
his  sons  to  escort  one  of  them  to  Bethlehem  from  Shamokin,  where  he  was  in  the 
most  perilous  situation,  the  war  having  just  broke  out.     (Loskiel,  ibid.,  ch.  12.) 

2  Loskiel,  part  I.,  ch.  10. 


AND    THEIR    KINDRED    TRIBES.  89 

time  remained  at  peace  with  all  the  nations  until  the  year  1774, 
when  they  were  involved  in  a  war  with  the  people  of  Virginia, 
occasioned  by  some  murders  which  were  committed  on  Logan's 
family  connexions  and  others  by  white  people.  In  this  instance 
it  cannot,  I  think,  be  said  that  they  were  the  aggressors,  yet 
their  thirst  for  revenge  was  so  great,  and  the  injured  Mengwe  at 
their  side  called  out  so  loudly  for  revenge,  that  they  with  great 
spirit  engaged  into  a  war  with  the  Virginians,  which,  however, 
was  of  but  short  duration,  as  they  were  opposed  with  an  equal 
degree  of  courage,  and  after  a  severe  battle  between  the  two 
rivals,  at  or  near  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Kanhawa,  and  the 
destruction  of  many  of  their  towns  by  the  Virginians,  the 
Shawanos  were  brought  to  make  peace  once  more;1  which  did 
not  last  long,  as  they  joined  the  British  against  the  American 
people,  some  time  after  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution, 
and  remained  our  enemies  after  that  time,  never  establishing  a 
firm  peace  with  us,  until  the  memorable  treaty  which  took  place 
in  1795,  after  the  decisive  defeat  of  the  nations  by  the  late  Gen 
eral  Wayne. 

The  Shawanos  lost  many  of  their  men  during  these  contests ; 
but  they  were  in  a  manner  replaced  by  individuals  of  other 
nations  joining  them.  Thus,  during  the  Revolutionary  war, 
about  one  hundred  turbulent  Cherokees,  who  could  not  be 
brought  by  their  own  nation  to  be  at  peace  with  the  American 
people,  and  were  on  that  account  driven  out  of  their  country, 
came  over  to  the  Shawanos,  while  others  from  the  Five  Nations 
joined  them  or  became  their  neighbours. 

The  Shawanos  are  considered  to  be  good  warriors  and  hunt- 

1  [After  the  peace  of  1763  there  was  comparative  quiet  on  the  Western  frontiers, 
until  the  inauguration  of  the  "  Dunmore  War,"  in  the  spring  of  1774  —  a  contest 
which  the  last  royal  governor  of  Virginia  is  said  to  have  excited,  in  order  to  divert 
the  attention  of  the  colonists  from  the  oppressive  acts  of  England  towards  them. 
The  initial  military  movement  in  this  war  was  Col.  Angus  McDonald's  expedition 
against  the  Shawanese  town  of  Waketameki,  just  below  the  mouth  of  the  Waketa- 
meki  Creek,  within  the  limits  of  the  present  county  of  Muskingum,  Ohio.  The 
battle  fought  on  the  loth  of  October,  1774,  at  the  junction  of  the  Great  Kanawha 
and  the  Ohio,  between  the  garrison  of  Point  Pleasant,  under  General  Andrew  Lewis, 
and  the  flower  of  the  Shawanese,  Delawares,  Mingoes,  and  Wyandots,  led  by  the 
Cornstalk,  the  Shawano  king,  in  which  the  confederate  Indians  were  routed,  was 
speedily  followed  by  a  peace.] 


90         SUBSEQUENT  FATE  OF  THE  LENAPE 

ers.  They  are  courageous,  high  spirited  and  manly,  and  more 
careful  in  providing  a  supply  of  ammunition  to  keep  in  reserve 
for  an  emergency,  than  any  other  nation  that  I  have  heard  of. 
Their  language  is  more  easily  learned  than  that  of  the  Lenape, 
and  has  a  great  affinity  to  the  Mohican,  Chippeway  and  other 
kindred  languages.  They  generally  place  the  accent  on  the  last 
syllable. 

THE  NANTICOKES. 

THE  Delawares  say  that  this  nation  has  sprung  from  the  same 
stock  with  them,  and  the  fact  was  acknowledged  by  White,1  one 
of  their  chiefs,  whom  I  have  personally  known.  They  call  the 
Delawares  their  grandfathers.  I  shall  relate  the  history  of  the 
Shawanos,2  as  I  had  it  from  the  mouth  of  White  himself. 

Every  Indian  being  at  liberty  to  pursue  what  occupation  he 
pleases,  White's  ancestors,  after  the  Lenape  came  into  their 
country,  preferred  seeking  a  livelihood  by  fishing  and  trapping 
along  the  rivers  and  bays,  to  pursuing  wild  game  in  the  forest ; 
they  therefore  detached  themselves,  and  sought  the  most  conve 
nient  places  for  their  purpose.  In  process  of  time,  they  became 
very  numerous,  partly  by  natural  increase,  and  partly  in  conse 
quence  of  being  joined  by  a  number  of  the  Lenape,  and  spread 
themselves  over  a  large  tract  of  country.  Thus  they  became 
divided  into  separate  bodies,  distinguished  by  different  names ; 
the  Canai,  they  say,  sprung  from  them,  and  settled  at  a  distance 
on  the  shores  of  the  Potomack  and  Susquehannah;  where  they 
lived  when  the  white  people  first  arrived  in  Virginia ;  but  they 
removed  farther  on  their  account,  and  settled  higher  up  the  Sus 
quehannah,  not  far  from  where  John  Harris  afterwards  estab 
lished  a  ferry.3  The  main  branch,  or  the  Nanticokes  proper, 
were  then  living  in  what  is  now  called  the  Eastern  shore  of 

1  See,  in  Loskiel's  History,  part  II.,  ch.  10,  his  account  of  the  visit  of  this  chief  to 
the  Christian  Indian  Congregation  at  Bethlehem. 

2  For  " Shawanos"  read  " Nanticokes ." 

8  [In  1726,  John  Harris,  a  Yorkshireman,  settled  at  the  mouth  of  the  Paxton 
Creek,  traded  largely  with  the  neighboring  Indians,  cleared  a  farm,  and  kept  a  ferry. 
John  Harris,  Jr.,  his  son,  born  on  the  Paxton  in  the  above-mentioned  year,  inherited 
from  his  father  700  acres  of  land,  on  a  part  of  which  Harrisburg  was  laid  out  in 
I785.] 


AND    THEIR    KINDRED    TRIBES.  QI 

Maryland.  At  length,  the  white  people  crowded  so  much  upon 
them,  that  they  were  also  obliged  to  seek  another  abode,  and  as 
their  grandfather  was  himself  retreating  back  in  consequence  of 
the  great  influx  of  the  whites,  they  took  the  advice  of  the 
Mengwe,  and  bent  their  course  at  once  to  the  large  flats  at  Wyo 
ming,  where  they  settled  by  themselves,  in  sight  of  the  Shaw- 
anos  town,  while  others  settled  higher  up  the  river,  even  as  high 
as  Chemenk1  (Shenango)  and  Shummunk,  to  which  places  they 
all  emigrated  at  the  beginning  of  the  French  war.  White's  tribe 
resided  there  until  the  Revolutionary  war,  when  they  went  off 
to  a  place  nearer  to  the  British,  whose  part  they  had  taken,  and 
whose  standard  they  joined.  White  himself  had  joined  the 
Christian  Indians  at  Schschequon,2  several  years  previous  to  the 
war,  and  remained  with  them. 

Nothing,  said  White,  had  equalled  the  decline  of  his  tribe 
since  the  white  people  had  come  into  the  country.  They  were 
destroyed  in  part  by  disorders  which  they  brought  with  them, 
by  the  small  pox,  the  venereal  disease,  and  by  the  free  use  of 
spirituous  liquors,  to  which  great  numbers  fell  victims. 

The  emigration  of  the  Nanticokes  from  Maryland  was  well 
known  to  the  Society  of  the  United  Brethren.  At  the  time  when 
these  people  were  beginning  their  settlement  in  the  forks  of 
Delaware,  the  Rev.  Christian3  Pyrlseus  noted  down  in  his  mem 
orandum  book,  "that  on  the  2ist  day  of  May,  1748,  a  number 
of  the  Nanticokes  from  Maryland,  passed  by  Shamokin  in  ten 
canoes,  on  their  way  to  Wyoming."  Others,  travelling  by  land, 
would  frequently  pass  through  Bethlehem,  and  from  thence 
through  the  Water  Gap  to  Nescopeck  or  Susquehannah,  and 
while  they  resided  at  Wyoming,  they,  together  with  the  Shaw- 
anese,  became  the  emissaries  of  the  Five  Nations,  and  in  con 
junction  with  them  afterwards,  endeavoured  to  remove  the 
Christian  Indians  from  Gnadenhiitten,  in  Northampton  county, 
to  Wyoming ;  their  private  object  being  to  have  a  full  oppor 
tunity  to  murder  the  white  inhabitants,  in  the  war  which  they 
already  knew  would  soon  break  out  between  the  French  and 
English. 

1  Zeningi,  according  to  Loskiel. 

2  For  "Schschequon "  read  " Skechschequon" 
8  [For  "Christian"  read  "Christopher."] 


92          SUBSEQUENT  FATE  OF  THE  LENAPE 

These  Nanticokes  had  the  singular  custom  of  removing  the 
bones  of  their  deceased  friends  from  the  burial  place  to  a  place 
of  deposit  in  the  country  they  dwell  in.  In  earlier  times,  they 
were  known  to  go  from  Wyoming  and  Chemenk,  to  fetch  the 
bones  of  their  dead  from  the  Eastern  shore  of  Maryland,  even 
when  the  bodies  were  in  a  putrid  state,  so  that  they  had  to  take 
off  the  flesh  and  scrape  the  bones  clean,  before  they  could  carry 
them  along.  I  well  remember  having  seen  them  between  the 
years  1750  and  1760,  loaded  with  such  bones,  which,  being  fresh, 
caused  a  disagreeable  stench,  as  they  passed  through  the  town 
of  Bethlehem. 

They  are  also  said  to  have  been  the  inventors  of  a  poisonous 
substance,  by  which  they  could  destroy  a  whole  settlement  of 
people,  and  they  are  accused  of  being  skilled  in  the  arts  of 
witchcraft ;  it  is  certain  that  they  are  very  much  dreaded  on  this 
account.  I  have  known  Indians  who  firmly  believed  that  they 
had  people  among  them  who  could,  if  they  pleased,  destroy  a 
whole  army,  by  merely  blowing  their  breath  towards  them. 
Those  of  the  Lenape l  and  other  tribes,  who  pretend  to  witch 
craft,  say  that  they  learned  the  science  from  the  Nanticokes  ; 
they  are  not  unwilling  to  be  taxed  with  being  wizards,  as  it 
makes  them  feared  by  their  neighbours. 

Their  national  name,  according  to  the  report  of  their  chief, 
White,  is  Nentego.  The  Delawares  call  them  Unechtgo,  and  the 
Iroquois  Sganiateratieh-rohne.  These  three  names  have  the 
same  meaning,  and  signify  tide  water  people,  or  the  sea  shore  set 
tlers.  They  have  besides  other  names,  by-names,  as  it  were, 
given  them  with  reference  to  their  occupation.  The  Mohi 
cans,  for  instance,  call  them  Otaydchgo,  and  the  Delawares  Ta- 
wachgu&no*  both  which  words  in  their  respective  languages, 
signify  a  "  bridge,"  a  "  dry  passage  over  a  stream  ;"  which  al 
ludes  to  their  being  noted  for  felling  great  numbers  of  trees 
across  streams,  to  set  their  traps  on.  They  are  also  often  called 
the  Trappers. 

In  the  year  1785,  this  tribe  had  so  dwindled  away,  that  their 
whole  body,  who  came  together  to  see  their  old  chief,  White, 


Loskiel,  part  I.,  ch.  9. 

For  "TawacJtgu&no"  read  "Tayachgu&no. 


AND    THEIR    KINDRED    TRIBES.  93 

then  residing  with  the  Christian  Indians  on  the  Huron  river,1 
north  of  Detroit,  did  not  amount  to  50  men.  They  were  then 
going  through  Canada,  to  the  Miami  country,  to  settle  beside 
the  Shawanos,  in  consequence  of  an  invitation  they  had  received 
from  them. 

THE  MAHICANNI,  OR  MOHICANS. 

THIS  once  great  and  renowned  nation  has  also  almost  entirely 
disappeared,  as  well  as  the  numerous  tribes  who  had  descended 
from  them  ;  they  have  been  destroyed  by  wars,  and  carried  off  by 
the  small  pox  and  other  disorders,  and  great  numbers  have  died 
in  consequence  of  the  introduction  of  spirituous  liquors  among 
them.  The  remainder  have  fled  and  removed  in  separate  bodies 
to  different  parts,  where  they  now  are  dispersed  or  mingled  with 
other  nations.  So  early  as  the  year  1762,  a  number  of  them 
had  emigrated  to  the  Ohio,  where  I  became  acquainted  with 
their  chief  who  was  called  by  the  whites  "  Mohican  John." 
Others  have  fled  to  the  shores  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  where  num 
bers  of  them  incorporated  themselves  with  the  Iroquois,  and 
where  their  descendants  live  at  the  present  time,  a  mixed  race, 
known  by  the  name  of  the  Cochneivago  Indians.  Upwards  of 
one  hundred  of  them,  who  lived  in  the  colonies  of  Connecti 
cut  and  New  York,  having  through  the  labours  of  the  United 
Brethren  embraced  Christianity,  emigrated  to  Pennsylvania, 
some  time  between  1742  and  1760,  where  they  afterwards  be 
came  incorporated  with  the  Delawares.2  A  considerable  num 
ber  migrated  from  Hudson's  river  about  the  year  1734,  and 
settled  at  Stockbridge,  in  Massachusetts;  between  the  year  1785 
and  1787,  they  removed  to  Oneida,  in  the  country  of  the  Six 
Nations,  and  gave  to  their  settlement  the  name  of  New  Stock- 
bridge.  Before  their  removal  their  numbers  had  gradually 
diminished.  In  1791,  they  were  reduced  to  191  persons.3  They 

1  [Now  the  Clinton,  on  whose  banks  New  Gnadenhutten  was  built  by  David  Zeis- 
berger  in  the  summer  of  1782.] 

2  [The  first  mission  established  by  the  Moravians  among  the  northern  tribes  of 
Indians,  was  among  a  clan   of  Mohegans,  in  the  town  of  Pine  Plains,  Dutchess 
County,  New  York,  where  Christian  Henry  Rauch,  of  Bethlehem,  began  his  labors  as 
an  evangelist  in  July  of  1740.] 

3  Collections  Massach.  Histor.  Soc.,  vol.  I.,  p.  195;  vol.  IV.,  p.  67;  vol.  IX.,  p.  92. 


94  SUBSEQUENT    FATE    OF    THE    LENAPE. 

were  once  very  numerous  in  Connecticut,  and  in  the  year  1799, 
there  still  were  84  individuals  of  them,  in  the  county  of  New 
London,1  the  remains  of  a  once  large  and  flourishing  settlement 
It  is  probable  that  by  this  time  they  are  nearly  if  not  entirely 
extinct. 

It  is  believed  that  the  Mahicanni  are  the  same  nation  who  are 
so  celebrated  in  the  History  of  New  England,  under  the  name 
of  Pequods  or  Pequots?  The  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards,  late  Presi 
dent  of  Union  College  at  Schenectady,  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  published  in  the  year  1788  in  a  pamphlet  form,  some 
observations  on  their  language,  which  were  republished  at  New 
York  in  1801.  This  small  tract,  as  well  as  the  translation  of  the 
Bible  into  the  Natick,  by  the  venerable  Eliot,  and  his  grammar 
of  that  language,  put  it  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  idiom  of  the 
Mohicans  and  those  of  the  other  New  England  Indians  pro 
ceeded  from  the  same  source  with  that  of  the  Lenni  Lenape. 

1  Collections  Massach.  Histor.  Soc.,  vol.  IX.,  p.  76. 

2  Coll.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  vol.  IX.,  p.  77.     Trumbull's  History  of  Connecticut,  vol. 
I.,  p.  28. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   IROQUOIS. 

HE  most  intelligent  and  credible  Indians  of  the  Len- 
ape  stock,  including  the  Mohicans,  have  ever  asserted, 
that  in  the  whole  country  bounded  on  the  north  by 
the  river  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Great  Lakes  (including 
what  is  now  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick),  on  the  west  by 
the  Mississippi,  on  the  east  by  the  Great  Salt-water  Lake,1  and 
on  the  south  by  the  country  of  the  Creeks,  Cherokees,  and  other 
Florida  Indians,  there  were  but  two  nations,  the  Mengwe,  and 
themselves.  Theirs  was  by  far  the  most  numerous  and  the  most 
extensively  settled,  for  their  tribes  extended  even  beyond  the 
Mississippi.  On  the  other  side  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  tlie  Algon- 
quins,  the  Killistenos  or  Knisteneaux,  and  others,  speaking  dia 
lects  of  their  language,  prove  their  origin  from  the  same  stock. 
The  Mengwe,  on  the  contrary,  were  comparatively  few,  and 
occupied  a  much  less  portion  of  territory,  being  almost  con 
fined  to  the  vicinity  of  the  great  lakes.  But  few  tribes  are 
known  to  be  connected  with  them  by  descent  and  language ; 
the  principal  ones  are  the  Wyandots,  otherwise  called  Hurons, 
and  the  Naudowessies.  Almost  every  other  nation  within  the 
boundaries  described,  is  of  the  Lenape  family. 

Each  of  these  two  great  nations,  say  the  Delawares,  had  an 
ancient  national  name,  and  a  tradition  of  their  respective  origin, 
handed  down  to  them  by  their  ancestors,  and  diffused  among  all 
the  kindred  tribes.  By  whatsoever  names  those  tribes  might  be 
called,  and  whatever  their  numbers  were,  still  they  considered 


1  The  Atlantic  Ocean. 


95 


g6  THE    IROQUOIS. 

themselves,  and  were  considered  by  others,  as  the  offspring  of 
the  same  original  stock.  All  the  tribes  who  had  sprung  from 
the  Lenape  called  the  mother  nation  grandfather,  and  received, 
in  return,  the  appellation  of  grandchildren.  They  were  all  united 
by  the  strongest  ties  of  friendship  and  alliance ;  in  their  own 
expressive  language,  they  made  but  one  house,  one  fire,  and  one 
canoe,  that  is  to  say,  that  they  constituted  together,  one  people, 
one  family.  The  same  thing  took  place  between  the  Mengwe 
and  the  tribes  descended  from  them.  They  and  the  Lenape  had 
no  relationship  with  each  other,  though  they  came  over  the  Mis 
sissippi  together  at  the  same  time.  They  considered  each  other 
as  nations  entirely  distinct. 

The  Mengwe  or  Iroquois  were  always  considered  by  the 
Lenape  as  only  one  nation,  consisting  of  several  confederated 
tribes.  The  name  of  Five  and  afterwards  Six  Nations,  was  given 
to  them  by  the  English,  whose  allies  they  were,  probably  to 
raise  their  consequence,  and  magnify  the  idea  of  their  strength  ; 
but  the  Indian  nations  never  did  flatter  them  with  that  high 
sounding  appellation,  and  considered  them  merely  as  confed 
erated  tribes. 

The  late  Rev.  Mr.  Pyrlseus,  in  a  large  volume  of  MS.  notes 
which  he  wrote  between  the  years  1/40  and  1760  (upwards  of 
70  years  ago),  has  taken  down  on  this  subject  the  account  given 
by  the  Iroquois  themselves,  as  he  had  it  from  the  mouth  of  an 
intelligent  Mohawk  chief,1  whose  veracity  might  be  depended 
upon.  After  giving  some  details  respecting  the  origin  of  their 
confederation,  the  time  about  which  it  took  place,  the  names  of 
the  delegates  from  each  of  the  confederated  tribes,  &c.,  he  pro 
ceeds  thus :  "  They  then  gave  themselves  the  name  Aquano- 
shioni,  which  means  one  house,  one  family,  and  consisted  of  the 
Mohawks,  Oneidas,  Onondagoes,  Cayugas,  and  Senecas.  This 
alliance  having  been  first  proposed  by  a  Mohawk  chief,  the 
Mohawks  rank  in  thefamify  as  the  eldest  brother,  the  Oneidas,  as 
the  eldest  son  ;  the  Senecas,  who  were  the  last  who  at  that  time 
had  consented  to  the  alliance,  were  called  the  youngest  son  ;  but 
the  Tuscaroras,  who  joined  the  confederacy  probably  one  hun- 

1  P-  235.— This  MS.  is  in  the  library  of  the  Society  of  the  United  Brethren  at 
Bethlehem. 


THE    IROQUOIS.  9/ 

dred  years  afterwards,  assumed  that  name,  and  the  Senecas 
ranked  in  precedence  before  them,  as  being  the  next  youngest 
son,  or  as  we  would  say,  the  youngest  son  but  one." 

The  Rev.  David  Zeisberger  also  says :  "  That  the  Iroquois 
call  themselves  Aquanosckioni,  which  means  united  people,  having 
united  for  the  purpose  of  always  reminding  each  other  that 
their  safety  and  power  consist  in  a  mutual  and  strict  adherence 
to  their  alliance."1  He  adds,  that  Onondago  is  the  chief  town 
of  the  Iroquois. 

Thus,  in  the  different  translations  of  the  name  which  these 
people  gave  themselves,  we  find  nothing  that  conveys  the  ideas 
of  nations,  it  implies  no  more  than  a  family,  an  united  people,  a 
family  compact.  The  different  sections  take  ranks  in  this  family, 
of  which  the  Onondagoes  are  the  head,  while  the  others  are 
brothers  and  sons  ;  all  which  tends  clearly  to  prove,  that  they 
were  originally  but  tribes,  detached  bodies  of  the  same  people, 
who,  when  brought  together  in  close  union,  formed  a  complete 
family  and  became  entitled  to  the  name  of  a  NATION. 

We  also  see  that  self-preservation  was  the  cause  of  their 
uniting,  and  that  they  were  compelled  by  necessity  to  this  meas 
ure,  on  which  their  existence  depended.  And  though  we  have 
a  right  to  suppose  that  that  tribe  which  always  takes  the  lead  in 
the  government  of  an  Indian  nation  (the  Turtle  tribe),  existed 
among  them,  yet  it  is  evident  that  its  authority  at  that  time  was 
either  wholly  disregarded,  or  at  least,  was  too  weak  to  give 
complete  efficacy  to  its  measures. 

If,  then,  we  believe  the  information  given  us  by  both  Pyrlaeus 
and  Zeisberger  to  be  correct,  we  must  be  fully  convinced  that 
the  Iroquois  confederacy  did  not  consist  of  Five  or  Six  Nations, 
but  of  as  many  tribes  or  sections  of  the  same  people,  forming 
together  one  nation.  These  two  Missionaries  are  known  to 
have  been  men  of  the  strictest  veracity ;  they  were  both,  I  may 
say,  critically  acquainted2  with  the  Mengwe  idiom,  and  they  had 

1  Loskiel,  part  II.,  ch.  9. 

2  Mr.  Zeisberger  wrote  a  complete  dictionary  of  the  Iroquois  language,  in  three 
quarto  volumes,  the  first  of  which,  from  A   to  the  middle  of  H,  is  unfortunately 
lost.     The  remainder,  which  is  preserved,  contains  upwards  of  800  pages,  which 

7 


98  THE    IROQUOIS. 

their  information  from  the  most  respectable  and  intelligent  men 
among  that  nation,  the  former  from  the  Mohawk,  the  latter  from 
the  Onondaga  tribe.  There  is  no  reason,  therefore,  why  the 
truth  of  their  statements  should  be  doubted. 

The  Lenape  and  their  kindred  tribes  never  have  called  the 
Iroquois  "  the  Five  or  Six  Nations."  In  conversation,  they  call 
them  the  Mengwe,  and  never  make  use  of  any  other  but  this 
generic  name  when  speaking  of  them.  In  their  councils,  how 
ever,  they  occasionally  distinguished  them  by  the  name  Palenach 
cndchiesktajeet}  These  two  words,  literally  translated  mean  "the 
five  divisions,  sections  or  parts  together,"  and  does  not  in  any 
manner  imply  the  idea  of  nations.  Had  they  meant  to  say  "  the 
Five  Nations,"  they  would  have  expressed  it  by  the  words  Pale 
nach  ekliokeiuit ;  those  which  they  used,  on  the  contrary,  ex 
pressly  imply  sectional  divisions,  and  leave  no  doubt  about  their 
meaning. 

The  Iroquois  themselves,  as  we  have  already  seen,  had  adopted 
a  name,  Aquanoschioni,  merely  indicative  of  their  close  union. 
After,  however,  they  came  to  be  informed  of  the  meaning  of  the 
name  which  the  English  had  given  them,  they  were  willing  to 
let  it  pass  as  correct.  The  Indians  are  very  fond  of  high  sound 
ing  names  ;  I  have  known  myself  chiefs  who  delighted  to  be 
called  Kings,  after  they  had  learned  from  us  that  the  rulers  of 
the  English  and  French  nations  were  distinguished  by  that  title. 

Thus  the  proper  name  of  those  six  united  tribes  is  in  their 
own  language  Aquanoschioni.  By  other  nations  they  are  called 
Mengwe,  Maquas,  Mingoes,  and  Iroquois.  The  Lenape  call  them 
by  the  first,  the  Mohicans  and  Dutch  by  the  second,  the  English 
and  Americans  by  the  third,  and  the  French  by  the  fourth.  I 
employ  these  different  names  indiscriminately  in  the  course  of 
this  work. 


shews  that,  at  least,  the  Indian  languages  are  not  so  poor  as  is  generally  imagined. 
It  is  German  and  Indian,  beginning  with  the  German.* 

*  [This  work,  entitled  "  Deutch  und  Onondagaishes  Wdrterbuch,"  i.  e.t  Lexicon  of  the  German 
and  Onondaga  Languages,  complete  in  7  vols.,  MS.,  is  deposited  in  the  Library  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society,  at  Philadelphia.  Also  a  complete  grammar  of  the  Onondaga  by  the  same 
author.] 

1  This  word  should  be  pronounced  according  to  the  powers  of  the  German  Al 
phabet. 


THE    IROQUOIS.  99 

As  detached  bodies  or  tribes,  their  names  with  the   Lenape 
are  the  following  : 

1.  Sankkicani,  the  Mohawks,  from  Sankhican,  a  gunlock,  this 
people  being  the  first  who  were  furnished  with  muskets  by  the 
Europeans,  the  locks  of  which,  with  their  effect  in  striking  fire, 
-,vas  a  subject   of  great  astonishment  to  them  ;  and  thus  they 
were  named,  as  it  were,  the  fire-striking  people. 

2.  WTdssone,  the  Oneidas.     This  name  means  the  stone-pipe 
makers,  and  was  given  to  them  on  account  of  their  ingenuity  in 
making  tobacco  pipes  of  stone. 

3.  Ononddgoes,  the  Onondagoes.     This  name  signifies  in  their 
own  language  on  the  top  of  the  hill,  their  town  being  so  situated. 

4.  Queugw,  Cayugas,  thus   called   after    a  lake  of  the  same 
name. 

5.  Mczchachtinni,  the  Senecas.     This  name  means  Mountaineers, 
and  was  given  them  because  they  inhabited  the  hilly  parts  of  the 
country. 

6.  The   Tuscaroras,   the  sixth    and  last  tribe   in   the  league, 
they  call  by  the  same  name,  yet  I  have  never  heard  the  Lenape 
speak  of  the  six  divisions  or  tribes ;  when  they  describe  them  in 
that  manner,  it  is  always  by  the  number  Five. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

GENERAL  CHARACTER  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

[HE  Indian  considers  himself  as  a  being  created  by  an 
all-powerful,  wise,  and  benevolent  Mannitto  ;T  all  that 
he  possesses,  all  that  he  enjoys,  he  looks  upon  as 
given  to  him  or  allotted  for  his  use  by  the  Great 
Spirit  who  gave  him  life :  he  therefore  believes  it  to  be  his  duty 
to  adore  and  worship  his  Creator  and  benefactor ;  to  acknow 
ledge  with  gratitude  his  past  favours,  thank  him  for  present 
blessings,  and  solicit  the  continuation  of  his  good  will.2 

As  beings  who  have  control  over  all  beasts  and  living  crea 
tures,  they  feel  their  importance;  before  they  saw  white  people 
or  men  of  a  different  colour  from  their  own,  they  considered 
themselves  as  God's  favourites,  and  believed  that  if  the  Great 
Mannitto  could  reside  on  earth  he  would  associate  with  them 
and  be  their  great  chief. 

The  Indian  also  believes,  that  he  is  highly  favoured  by  his 
Maker,  not  only  in  having  been  created  different  in  shape  and 
in  mental  and  bodily  powers  from  other  animals,  but  in  being 
enabled  to  controul  and  master  them  all,  even  those  of  an  enor 
mous  size  and  of  the  most  ferocious  kinds;  and  therefore,  when 
he  worships  his  Creator  in  his  way,  he  does  not  omit  in  his 
supplications  to  pray  that  he  may  be  endowed  with  courage  to 

1  Being,  or  Spirit. 

2  An  old  Indian  told  me  about  fifty  years  ago,  that  when  he  was  young,  he  still 
followed  the  custom  of  his  father  and  ancestors,  in  climbing  upon  a  high  mountain  or 
pinnacle,  to  thank  the  Great  Spirit  for  all  the  benefits  before  bestowed,  and  to  pray 
for  a  continuance  of  his  favour;  that  they  were  sure  their  prayers  were  heard,  and 
acceptable  to  the  Great  Spirit,  although  he  did  not  himself  appear  to  them. 

100 


GENERAL    CHARACTER    OF    THE    INDIANS.  IOI 

fight  and  conquer  his  enemies,  among  whom  he  includes  all 
savage  beasts ;  and  when  he  has  performed  some  heroic  act,  he 
will  not  forget  to  acknowledge  it  as  a  mark  of  divine  favour,  by 
making  a  sacrifice  to  the  great  and  good  Mannitto,  or  by  pub 
licly  announcing  that  his  success  was  entirely  owing  to  the 
courage  given  him  by  the  all-powerful  Spirit.  Thus,  habitual 
devotion  to  the  great  First  Cause,  and  a  strong  feeling  of  grati 
tude  for  the  benefits  which  he  confers,  is  one  of  the  prominent 
traits  which  characterise  the  mind  of  the  untutored  Indian. 

Not  satisfied  with  paying  this  first  of  duties  to  the  Lord  of  all, 
in  the  best  manner  they  are  able,  the  Indians  also  endeavour  to 
fulfil  the  views  which  they  suppose  he  had  in  creating  the  world. 
They  think  that  he  made  the  earth  and  all  that  it  contains  for 
the  common  good  of  mankind ;  when  he  stocked  the  country 
that  he  gave  them  with  plenty  of  game,  it  was  not  for  the  benefit 
of  a  few,  but  of  all.  Every  thing  was  given  in  common  to  the 
sons  of  men.  Whatever  liveth  on  the  land,  whatsoever  groweth 
out  of  the  earth,  and  all  that  is  in  the  rivers  and  waters  flowing 
through  the  same,  was  given  jointly  to  all,  and  every  one  is 
entitled  to  his  share.  From  this  principle,  hospitality  flows  as 
from  its  source.  With  them  it  is  not  a  virtue  but  a  strict  duty. 
Hence  they  are  never  in  search  of  excuses  to  avoid  giving,  but 
freely  supply  their  neighbour's  wants  from  the  stock  prepared 
for  their  own  use.  They  give  and  are  hospitable  to  all,  without 
exception,  and  will  always  share  with  each  other  and  often  with 
the  stranger,  even  to  their  last  morsel.  They  rather  would  lie 
down  themselves  on  an  empty  stomach,  than  have  it  laid  to 
their  charge  that  they  had  neglected  their  duty,  by  not  satisfy 
ing  the  wants  of  the  stranger,  the  sick  or  the  needy.  The 
stranger  has  a  claim  to  their  hospitality,  partly  on  account  of 
his  being  at  a  distance  from  his  family  and  friends,  and  partly 
because  he  has  honoured  them  by  his  visit,  and  ought  to  leave 
them  with  a  good  impression  upon  his  mind ;  the  sick  and  the 
poor  because  they  have  a  right  to  be  helped  out  of  the  common 
stock  :  for  if  the  meat  they  have  been  served  with,  was  taken 
from  the  woods,  it  was  common  to  all  before  the  hunter  took  it ; 
if  corn  or  vegetables,  it  had  grown  out  of  the  common  ground, 
yet  not  by  the  power  of  man,  but  by  that  of  the  Great  Spirit. 
Besides,  on  the  principle,  that  all  are  descended  from  one  parent, 


IO2  GENERAL    CHARACTER    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

they  look  upon  themselves  as  but  one  great  family,  who  there 
fore  ought  at  all  times  and  on  all  occasions,  to  be  serviceable 
and  kind  to  each  other,  and  by  that  means  make  themselves 
acceptable  to  the  head  of  the  universal  family,  the  great  and 
good  Mannitto.  Let  me  be  permitted  to  illustrate  this  by  an 
.example. 

Some  travelling  Indians  having  in  the  year  1777,  put  their 
horses  over  night  to  pasture  in  my  little  meadow,  at  Gnaden- 
hiitten  on  the  Muskingum,  I  called  on  them  in  the  morning  to 
learn  why  they  had  done  so.  I  endeavoured  to  make  them 
sensible  of  the  injury  they  had  done  me,  especially  as  I  intended 
to  mow  the  meadow  in  a  day  or  two.  Having  finished  my 
complaint,  one  of  them  replied  :  "  My  friend,  it  seems  you  lay 
claim  to  the  grass  my  horses  have  eaten,  because  you  had 
enclosed  it  with  a  fence :  now  tell  me,  who  caused  the  grass  to 
grow?  Can  you  make  the  grass  grow?  I  think  not,  and  no 
body  can  except  the  great  Mannitto.  He  it  is  who  causes  it  to 
grow  both  for  my  horses  and  for  yours  !  See,  friend  !  the  grass 
which  grows  out  of  the  earth  is  common  to  all ;  the  game  in  the 
woods  is  common  to  all.  Say,  did  you  never  eat  venison  and 
bear's  meat  ? — '  Yes,  very  often.' — Well,  and  did  you  ever  hear 
me  or  any  other  Indian  complain  about  that  ?  No  ;  then  be  not 
disturbed  at  my  horses  having  eaten  only  once,  of  what  you  call 
your  grass,  though  the  grass  my  horses  did  eat,  in  like  manner 
as  the  meat  you  did  eat,  was  given  to  the  Indians  by  the  Great 
Spirit.  Besides,  if  you  will  but  consider,  you  will  find  that  my 
horses  did  not  eat  all  your  grass.  For  friendship's  sake,  how 
ever,  I  shall  never  put  my  horses  in  your  meadow  again." 

The  Indians  are  not  only  just,  they  are  also  in  many  respects 
a  generous  people,  and  cannot  see  the  sick  and  the  aged  suffer  for 
want  of  clothing.  To  such  they  will  give  a  blanket,  a  shirt,  a  pair 
of  leggings,  mocksens,  &c.  Otherwise,  when  they  make  pres 
ents,  it  is  done  with  a  view  to  receive  an  equivalent  in  return,  and 
the  receiver  is  given  to  understand  what  that  ought  to  be.  In 
making  presents  to  strangers,  they  are  content  with  some  trifle 
in  token  of  remembrance ;  but  when  they  give  any  thing  to  a 
trader,  they  at  least  expect  double  the  value  in  return,  saying  that 
he  can  afford  to  do  it,  since  he  had  cheated  them  so  often. 

They  treat  each  other  with  civility,  and  shew  much  affection 


GENERAL    CHARACTER    OF    THE    INDIANS.  IO3 

on  meeting  after  an  absence.  •  When  they  meet  in  the  forenoon, 
they  will  compliment  one  another  with  saying,  "  a  good  morn 
ing  to  you  !  "  and  in  the  afternoon,  "  a  good  evening."  In  the 
act  of  shaking  hands  with  each  other,  they  strictly  attend  to  the 
distinguishing  names  of  relations,  which  they  utter  at  the  time ; 
as  for  instance,  "  a  good  morning,  father,  grandfather,  uncle, 
aunt,  cousin,"  and  so  down  to  a  small  grandchild.  They  are 
also  in  the  habit  of  saluting  old  people  no  ways  related  to  them, 
by  the  names  of  grandfather  and  grandmother,  not  in  a  tone  of 
condescending  superiority  or  disguised  contempt,  but  as  a  genu 
ine  mark  of  the  respect  which  they  feel  for  age.  The  common 
way  of  saluting  where  no  relationship  exists,  is  that  of  "  friend  ;  " 
when,  however,  the  young  people  meet,  they  make  use  of  words 
suitable  to  their  years  or  sfage  in  life ;  they  will  say  "  a  good 
morning,  comrade,  favourite,  beloved,  &c."  Even  the  children 
salute  each  other  affectionately.  "  I  am  glad  to  see  you,"  is  the 
common  way  in  which  the  Indians  express  themselves  to  one 
another  after  a  short  absence ;  but  on  meeting  after  a  long  ab 
sence,  on  the  return  of  a  messenger  or  a  warrior  from  a  critical 
or  dangerous  expedition,  they  have  more  to  say ;  the  former  is 
saluted  in  the  most  cordial  manner  with  some  such  expression  : 
"  I  thank  the  Great  Spirit,  that  he  has  preserved  our  lives  to  this 
time  of  our  happily  meeting  again.  I  am,  indeed,  very  glad  to 
see  you."  To  which  the  other  will  reply :  "  you  speak  the 
truth ;  it  is  through  the  favour  of  the  great  and  good  Spirit  that 
we  are  permitted  to  meet.  I  am  equally  glad  to  see  you."  To 
the  latter  will  be  said :  "  I  am  glad  that  the  Great  Spirit  has  pre 
served  your  life  and  granted  you  a  safe  return  to  your  family." 

They  are  not  quarrelsome,  and  are  always  on  their  guard,  so 
as  not  to  offend  each  other.  When  one  supposes  himself  hurt 
or  aggrieved  by  a  word  which  has  inadvertently  fallen  from  the 
mouth  of  another,  he  will  say  to  him :  "  Friend,  you  have  caused 
me  to  become  jealous  of  you,"  (meaning  that  he  begins  to  doubt 
the  sincerity  of  his  friendship,)  when  the  other  explaining  and 
saying  that  he  had  no  bad  intention,  all  is  done  away  again. 

They  do  not  fight  with  each  other ;  they  say  that  fighting  is 
only  for  dogs  and  beasts.  They  are,  however,  fond  of  play,  and 
passing  a  joke,  yet  very  careful  that  they  do  not  offend. 

They  are  ingenious  in   making  satirical   observations,  which 


IO4  GENERAL    CHARACTER    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

though  they  create  laughter,  do  not,  or  but  seldom  give  offence. 
For  instance,  seeing  a  bad  hunter  going  out  into  the  woods 
with  his  gun,  they  will  ask  him  if  he  is  going  out  for  meat?  or 
say  to  one  another  :  "  now  we  shall  have  meat,  for  such  a  one  is 
gone  a  hunting,"  (not  believing  any  such  thing.)  If  they  see  a 
coward  joining  a  war  party,  they  will  ask  him  ironically  at  what 
time  he  intends  to  come  back  again  ?  (knowing  that  he  will  re 
turn  before  he  has  met  the  enemy,)  or  they  will  say  to  one 
another:  "will  he  return  this  way  with  his  scalps?" 

Genuine  wit,  which  one  would  hardly  expect  to  find  in  a  sav 
age  people,  is  not  unfrequent  among  them.  I  have  heard  them, 
for  instance,  compare  the  English  and  American  nations  to  a 
pair  of  scissors,  an  instrument  composed  of  two  sharp  edged 
knives  exactly  alike,  working  against  each  other  for  the  same 
purpose,  that  of  cutting.  By  the  construction  of  this  instrument, 
they  said,  it  would  appear  as  if  in  shutting,  these  two  sharp 
knives  would  strike  together  and  destroy  each  other's  edges ; 
but  no  such  thing :  they  only  cut  what  comes  between  them.  And 
thus  the  English  and  Americans  do  when  they  go  to  war  against 
one  another.  It  is  not  each  other  that  they  want  to  destroy, 
but  us,  poor  Indians,  that  are  between  them.  By  this  means 
they  get  our  land,  and,  when  that  is  obtained,  the  scissors  are 
closed  again,  and  laid,  by  for  further  use. 

They  are  remarkable  for  the  particular  respect  which  they 
pay  to  old  age.  In  all  their  meetings,  whether  public  or  pri 
vate,  they  pay  the  greatest  attention  to  the  observations  and 
advice  of  the  aged;  no  one  will  attempt  to  contradict  them,  nor 
to  interfere  in  any  manner  or  even  to  speak,  unless  he  is  spec 
ially  called  upon.  "  The  aged,"  they  say,  "  have  lived  through 
the  whole  period  of  our  lives,  and  long  before  we  were  born  ; 
they  have  not  only  all  the  knowledge  we  possess,  but  a  great 
deal  more.  We,  therefore,  must  submit  our  limited  views  to 
their  experience." 

In  travelling,  one  of  the  oldest  will  always  take  the  lead,  un 
less  another  is  specially  appointed  for  that  purpose.  If  such  a 
one  stops  to  hunt,  or  in  order  to  stay  and  encamp  at  the  place 
for  some  time,  all  halt  together,  all  are  pleased  with  the  spot 
and  declare  it  to  be  judiciously  chosen. 


GENERAL    CHARACTER    OF    THE    INDIANS.  IO5 

I  shall  expatiate  further  on  this  interesting  part  of  the  Indian 
character,  in  the  sequel  of  this  work. 

They  have  a  strong  innate  sense  of  justice,  which  will  lead 
them  sometimes  to  acts  which  some  men  will  call  heroic,  others 
romantic,  and  not  a  few,  perhaps,  will  designate  by  the  epithet 
barbarous ;  a  vague  indefinite  word,  which  if  it  means  anything, 
might,  perhaps,  be  best  explained  by  something  not  like  ourselves. 
However  that  may  be,  this  feeling  certainly  exists  among  the 
Indians,  and  as  I  cannot  describe  it  better  than  by  its  effects,  I 
shall  content  myself  with  relating  on  this  subject  a  characteristic 
anecdote  which  happened  in  the  year  1/93,  at  an  Indian  village 
called  La  Chine,  situated  nine  miles  above  Montreal,  and  was 
fold  me  in  the  same  year  by  Mr.  La  Ramee,  a  French  Canadian 
inhabitant  of  that  place,  whom  I  believe  to  be  a  person  of  strict 
veracity.  I  was  then  on  my  return  from  Detroit,  in  company 
with  General  Lincoln  and  several  other  gentlemen,  who  were 
present  at  the  relation,  and  gave  it  their  full  belief.  I  thought  it 
then  so  interesting,  that  I  inserted  it  in  my  journal,  from  which 
I  now  extract  it. 

There  were  in  the  said  village  of  La  Chine  two  remarkable 
Indians,  the  one  for  his  stature,  being  six  feet  four  inches  in 
height,  and  the  other  for  his  strength  and  activity.  These  two 
meeting  together  one  day  in  the  street,  (a  third  being  present,) 
the  former  in  a  high  tone  made  use  of  some  insulting  language 
to  the  other,  which  he  could  not  well  put  up  with :  he  called 
him  a  coward,  said  he  was  his  inferior  in  every  respect,  and  so 
provoked  his  anger,  that  unable  any  longer  to  contain  himself, 
the  latter  instantly  replied  :  "  You  have  grossly  insulted  me  ;  but 
I  will  prevent  you  from  doing  the  like  again ! "  and  at  the  same 
moment  stabbed  him  through  the  body  with  his  knife,  so  that 
he  dropped  down  dead  by  his  side.  The  alarm  being  imme 
diately  spread  through  the  village,  a  crowd  of  Indians  assembled, 
and  the  murderer  having  seated  himself  on  the  ground  by  the 
side  of  the  dead  body,  coolly  awaited  his  fate,  which  he  could 
not  expect  to  be  any  other  than  immediate  death,  particularly  as 
the  cry  of  the  people  was,  "  Kill  him  !  Kill  him  !  "  But  although 
he  placed  his  body  and  head  in  a  proper  posture  to  receive  the 
stroke  of  the  tomahawk,  no  one  attempted  to  lay  hands  on  him  ; 
but  after  removing  the  dead  body  from  where  it  lay,  they  left 


106  GENERAL    CHARACTER    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

him  alone.     Not  meeting  here  with  his  expected  fate,  he  rose 
from  this  place  for  a  more  public  part  of  the  village,  and  there 
lay  down  on  the  ground  in  the  hope  of  being  the  sooner  des 
patched  ;  but  the  spectators,  after  viewing  him,  all  retired  again. 
Sensible  that  his   life  was  justly  forfeited,  and  anxious   to  be 
relieved  from  a  state  of  suspense,  he  took  the  resolution  to  go 
to  the  mother  of  the  deceased,  an  aged  widow,  whom  he  ad 
dressed  in  these  words :  "  Woman,  I  have  killed  thy  son ;  he 
had  insulted  me,  it  is  true ;  but  still  he  was  thine,  and  his  life 
was  valuable  to  thee.     I,  therefore,  now  surrender  myself  up  to 
thy  will.     Direct  as  thou  wilt  have  it,  and  relieve  me  speedily 
from   misery."     To  which  the  woman  answered :  "  Thou  hast, 
indeed,  killed   my  son,  who   was    dear  to  me,   and    the    only 
supporter   I    had   in    my   old   age.      One  life    is   already   lost, 
and  to   take   thine   on    that   account,    cannot    be    of  any   ser 
vice   to  me,    nor   better  my  situation.      Thou   hast,    however, 
a  son,  whom,   if  thou  wilt    give  me  in   the  place  of  my  son, 
whom  thou  hast  slain,   all   shall  be  wiped  away."     The  mur 
derer  then  replied :  "  Mother,  my  son  is  yet  but  a  child,  ten 
years  old,  and  can  be  of  no  service  to  thee,  but  rather  a  trouble 
and  charge;   but  here  am   I,  truly  capable  of  supporting  and 
maintaining  thee :  if  thou  wilt  receive  me  as  thy  son,  nothing 
shall  be  wanting  on  my  part  to  make  thee  comfortable  while 
thou  livest."     The  woman  approving  of  the  proposal,  forthwith 
adopted  him  as  her  son,  and  took  the  whole  family  to  her  house. 
But  we  must  now  look  to  the  other  side  of  the  picture.     It 
cannot  but  be  acknowledged  that  the  Indians  are  in  general 
revengeful  and  cruel  to  their  enemies.     That  even  after  the  bat 
tle  is  over,  they  wreak  their  deliberate  revenge  on  their  defence 
less  prisoners  ;  that  in  their  wars  they  are  indifferent  about  the 
means  which  they  pursue  for  the  annoyance  and  destruction  of 
their  adversaries,  and  that  surprise  and  stratagem  are  as  often 
employed  by  them  as  open  force.     This  is  all  true.     Deprived 
of  the  light  of  the  only  true  Christian  Religion,  unchecked  by 
the  precepts  and  unswayed  by  the  example  of  the  God  of  peace, 
they  indulge  too  much,  sometimes,  the  violence  of  their  passions, 
and  commit  actions  which  force  the  tear  from  the  eye  of  human 
ity.     But,  upon    the  whole,  are  we   better   than   they  are?     I 
reserve  this  question  for  a  separate  chapter. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

GOVERNMENT. 

LTHOUGH  the  Indians  have  no  code  of  laws  for 
their  government,  their  chiefs  find  little  or  no  diffi 
culty  in  governing  them.  They  are  supported  by  able 
experienced  counsellors ;  men  who  study  the  welfare 
of  the  nation,  and  are  equally  interested  with  themselves  in  its 
prosperity.  On  them  the  people  rely  entirely,  believing  that 
what  they  do,  or  determine  upon,  must  be  right  and  for  the 
public  good. 

Proud  of  seeing  such  able  men  conduct  the  affairs  of  their 
nation,  the  Indians  are  little  troubled  about  what  they  are  doing, 
knowing  that  the  result  of  their  deliberations  will  be  made 
public  in  due  time,  and  sure  that  it  will  receive  their  approbation. 
This  result  is  made  known  to  them  by  the  chief  through  the 
orator,  for  which  purpose  they  are  called  together  and  assemble 
at  the  council-house ;  and  if  it  be  found  necessary  to  require  a 
contribution  of  wampum,  for  carrying  the  decision  of  the  chiefs 
into  effect,  it  is  cheerfully  complied  with  by  the  whole  assembly. 

The  chiefs  are  very  careful  in  preserving  for  their  own  infor 
mation,  and  that  of  future  generations,  all  important  deliberations 
and  treaties  made  at  any  time  between  them  and  other  nations. 
Thus,  between  the  years  1770  and  1780,  they  could  relate  very 
minutely  what  had  passed  between  William  Penn  and  their  fore 
fathers,  at  their  first  meeting  and  afterwards,  and  also  the  trans 
actions  which  took  place  with  the  governors  who  succeeded 
him.  For  the  purpose  of  refreshing  their  own  memories,  and 
of  instructing  one  or  more  of  their  most  capable  and  promising 

107 


108  GOVERNMENT. 

young  men  in  these  matters,  they  assemble  once  or  twice  a 
year.  On  these  occasions  they  always  meet  at  a  chosen  spot 
in  the  woods,  at  a  small  distance  from  the  town,  where  a  fire 
is  kindled,  and  at  the  proper  time  provisions  are  brought  out  to 
them ;  there,  on  a  large  piece  of  bark  or  on  a  blanket,  all  the 
documents  are  laid  out  in  such  order,  that  they  can  at  once  dis 
tinguish  each  particular  speech,  the  same  as  we  know  the  prin 
cipal  contents  of  an  instrument  of  writing  by  the  endorsement 
on  it.  If  any  paper  or  parchment  writings  are  connected  with 
the  belts,  or  strings  of  wampum,  they  apply  to  some  trusty  white 
man  (if  such  can  be  had,)  to  read  the  contents  to  them.  Their 
speaker  then,  who  is  always  chosen  from  among  those  who  are 
endowed  with  superior  talents,  and  has  already  been  trained  up 
to  the  business,  rises,  and  in  an  audible  voice  delivers,  with  the 
gravity  that  the  subject  requires,  the  contents,  sentence  after  sen 
tence,  until  he  has  finished  the  whole  on  one  subject.  On  the 
manner  in  which  the  belts  or  strings  of  wampum  are  handled 
by  the  speaker,  much  depends ;  the  turning^  of  the  belt  which 
takes  place  when  he  has  finished  one  half  of  his  speech,  is  a 
material  point,  though  this  is  not  common  in  all  speeches  with 
belts ;  but  when  it  is  the  case,  and  is  done  properly,  it  may  be 
as  well  known  by  it  how  far  the  speaker  has  advanced  in  his 
speech,  as  with  us  on  taking  a  glance  at  the  pages  of  a  book  or 
pamphlet  while  reading ;  and  a  good  speaker  will  be  able  to 
point  out  the  exact  place  on  a  belt  which  is  to  answer  to  each 
particular  sentence,  the  same  as  we  can  point  out  a  passage  in  a 
book.  Belts  and  strings,  when  done  with  by  the  speaker,  are 
again  handed  to  the  chief,  who  puts  them  up  carefully  in  the 
speech-bag  or  pouch. 

A  message  of  importance  is  generally  sent  on  to  the  place  of 
its  destination,  by  an  inferior  chief,  by  a  counsellor,  or  by  the 
speaker,  especially  when  an  immediate  answer  is  expected.  In 

1  When,  between  the  years  1760  and  1768,  the  noted  war-chief  Fontiac  had  con 
certed  a  plan  of  surprising  and  cutting  off  the  garrison  and  town  of  Detroit,  while  in 
the  act  of  delivering  an  impressive  peace  oration,  to  the  then  commandant  Major 
Gladwyn,  the  turning  of  the  belt  was  to  have  been  the  signal  of  the  attack  by  his 
forces,  who  all  had  their  guns,  which  previously  had  been  cut  off  to  large  pistol 
length,  hidden  under  their  blankets.  So  I  have  been  informed  by  some  of  the  most 
respectable  inhabitants  of  Detroit,  and  by  the  Indians  themselves. 


GOVERNMENT. 

other  cases,  where  for  instance  only  an  answer  to  a  speech  is  to 
be  sent,  two  capable  young  men  are  selected  for  the  purpose,  the 
one  to  deliver  the  message  or  answer,  and  the  other  to  pay 
attention  while  his  companion  is  delivering  it,  that  no  part  be 
forgotten  or  omitted.  If  the  message  be  of  a  private  nature, 
they  are  charged  to  draw  or  take  it  under  ground,  that  is,  not  to 
make  it  known  to  any  person  whatsoever,  except  to  him  to  / 
whom  it  is  directed.  If  they  are  told  to  enter  into  the  earth  with  / 
the  message  or  speech,  and  rise  again  at  the  place  where  they 
are  to  deliver  it,  it  is  to  desire  them  to  be  careful  not  to  be  seen 
by  the  way  by  any  person,  and  for  that  purpose  to  avoid  all 
paths,  and  travel  through  the  woods. 

No  chief  pays  any  attention  to  reports,  though  they  may  carry 
with  them  the  marks  of  truth.  Until  he  is  officially  and  in  due 
form  apprised  of  the  matter,  he  will,  if  questioned  on^  the  subject, 
reply. that  he  had  not  heard  it.  It  will,  until  then,  *6"e  considered 
by  him  as  the  song  of  a  bird  which  had  flown  by  ;  but  as  soon  as 
he  is  officially  informed,  through  a  string  of  wampum  from  some 
distant  chief  or  leading  mari"  of  the  nation,  whose  situation 
entitles  him  to  receive  credit,  he  then  will  say :  "  I  have  heard 
it;  "  and  acts  accordingly. 

The  Indians  generally,  but  their  chiefs  more  particularly,  have 
many  figurative  expressions  in  use,  to  understand  which  requires 
instruction.  When  a  nation,  by  message  or  otherwise,  speaks  to 
another  nation  in  this  way,  it  is  well  understood ;  but  when  they 
speak  to  white  people  after  this  manner,  who  have  not  been 
accustomed  to  such  language,  explanations  are  necessary. 

Their  belts  of  wampum  are  of  different  dimensions,  both  as  to 
the  length  and  breadth.  White  and  black  wampum  are  the 
kinds  they  use;  the  former  denoting  that  which  is  good,  as 
peace,  friendship,  good  will,  &c.,  the  latter  the  reverse;  yet 
occasionally  the  black  also  is  made  use  of  on  peace  errands, 
when  the  white  cannot  be  procured ;  but  previous  to  its  being 
produced  for  such  purpose,  it  must  be  daubed  all  over  with 
chalk,  white  clay,  or  any  thing  which  changes  the  colour  from 
black  to  white.  The  pipe  of  peace,  being  either  made  of  a 
black  or  red  stone,  must  also  be  whitened  before  it  is  produced 
and  smoked  out  of  on  such  occasions. 


HO  GOVERNMENT. 

Roads  from  one  friendly  nation  to  another,  are  generally 
marked  on  the  belt,  by  one  or  two  rows  of  white  wampum  inter 
woven  in  the  black,  and  running  through  the  middle,  and  from 
end  to  end.  It  means  that  they  are  on  good  terms,  and  keep  up 
a  friendly  intercourse  with  each  other. 

A  black  belt  with  the  mark  of  a  hatchet  made  on  it  with  red 
paint,  is  a  war  belt,  which,  when  sent  to  a  nation  together  with  a 
twist  or  roll  of  tobacco,  is  an  invitation  to  join  in  a  war.  If  the 
nation  so  invited  smoke  of  this  tobacco,  and  say  it  smokes  well, 
they  have  given  their  consent,  and  are  from  that  moment  allies. 
If  however  they  decline  smoking,  all  further  persuasion  would 
be  of  no  effect;  yet  it  once1  happened,  that  war  messengers 
endeavoured  to  persuade  and  compel  a  nation  to  accept  the 
belt,  by  laying  it  on  the  shoulders  or  thigh  of  the  chief,  who, 
however,  after  shaking  it  off  without  touching  it  with  his  hands, 
afterwards,  with  a  stick,  threw  it  after  them,  as  if  he  threw  a 
snake  or  toad  out  of  his  way. 

Although  at  their  councils  they  do  not  seat  themselves  after 
the  manner  of  the  white  people,  yet  the  attitude  they  place 
themselves  in  is  not  chargeable  to  them  as  a  want  of  respect. 
Faithful  to  the  trust  committed  to  them,  they  are  careless  of 
ceremonies,  from  which  the  nation  cannot  derive  any  benefit. 
They  seat  themselves  promiscuously  around  a  council  fire,  some 
leaning  one  way,  some  another,  so  that  a  stranger  on  viewing 
them,  might  be  led  to  conclude  they  were  inattentive  to  what 
was  sa'id,  or  had  become  tired  of  attending.  Not  so !  even 
sitting  in  this  posture  gives  them  the  opportunity  of  being 
intent  on  what  is  said,  and  attentive  to  the  subject  under  their 
consideration.  They  have  no  object  to  look  at,  which  might 
draw  off  their  attention.  They  are  all  ears,  though  they  do 
not  stare  at  the  speaker !  The  fact  is,  that  nothing  can  draw 
their  attention  from  the  subject  they  are  deliberating  on,  unless 
the  house  they  are  sitting  in  should  take  fire  or  be  attacked  by 
an  enemy. 

To  prove  the  correctness  of  the  above  assertion,  I  shall  relate 
the  following  fact,  which  happened  at  Detroit  in  the  winter  of 
1785  and  1786. 

1  For  "once"  read  "  sometimes" 


GOVERNMENT.  Ill 

When  two  most  audacious  murderers  of  the  Chippeway  nation, 
who,  for  many  months,  had  put  the  town  and  whole  country  in 
fear,  by  the  threats  and  the  daring  murders  they  had  committed 
in  the  settlement,  were  taken,  and  brought  before  the  command 
ant  (their  chiefs  having  been  previously  sent  for,  and  being 
now  assembled  in  the  council  house),  heard  him  pronounce  the 
words  :  "  that  according  to  the  laws  of  their  Father  (the  English) 
they  should1  be  punished  with  death,"  the  younger  of  the  two, 
who  was  the  son  of  the  other,  sprang  from  his  seat,  and  having 
forced  his  way  to 2  the  door,  endeavoured  with  a  knife  or  dagger 
he  had  hidden  under  his  blanket,  to  work  his  way  through  the 
strong  guard  placed  outside  of  the  door  and3  in  the  street  to 
prevent  their  escape ;  in  this  attempt,  however,  he  was  stabbed 
and  fell ;  all  which  occasioned  much  noise  and  commotion 
without,  and  not  a  little  fear  and  uneasiness  within,  among  the 
spectators  and  officers  of  government ;  yet,  not  one  of  the  chiefs, 
who  were  many  in  number,  either  moved  from  his  seat,  nor 
looked  around,  or  even  at  one  another;  but  they  all  remained 
sitting  in  the  same  posture  as  before,  smoking  their  pipes  as  if 
nothing  had  happened. 

Though  there  are  sometimes  individuals  in  a  nation,  who  dis 
regard  the  counsel  and  good  advice  given  by  the  chiefs,  yet 
they  do  not  meet  with  support  so  as  to  be  able  to  oppose  the 
measures  of  government.  They  are  generally  looked  upon  as 
depraved  beings,  who  not  daring  to  associate  with  the  others, 
lurk  about  by  themselves,  generally  bent  on  mischief  of  a  minor 
kind,  such  as  pilfering  small  articles  of  goods  and  provisions. 
As  soon,  however,  as  they  go  a  step  further,  and  become  known 
thieves  and  murderers,  they  are  considered  a  disgrace  to  the 
nation,  and  being  in  a  manner  disowned  by  it,  they  are  no  longer 
entitled  to  their  protection. 

In  the  year  1785,  an  Indian  of  this  description,  murdered  a 
Mr.  Evans  at  Pittsburg;  when,  after  a  confinement  of  several 
months,  his  trial  was  to  be  brought  on,  the  chiefs  of  his  (the 
Delaware  nation,)  were  invited  to  come  to  be  present  at  the 

1  For  "  should"  read  "  deserved  to" 

2  For  "to"  read  "  out  at!' 

3  Dele  "  outside  of  the  door  and." 


112  GOVERNMENT. 

proceedings  and  see  how  the  trial  would  be  conducted,  and, 
also,  if  they  chose,  to  speak  in  behalf  of  the  accused.  These 
chiefs,  however,  instead  of  coming,  as  wished  for,  sent  to  the 
civil  officers  of  that  place  the  following  laconic  answer :  "  Breth 
ren  !  You  inform  us  that  N.  N.  who  murdered  one  of  your  men 
at  Pittsburg,  is  shortly  to  be  tried  by  the  laws  of  your  country, 
at  which  trial  you  request  that  some  of  us  may  be  present ! 
Brethren  !  knowing  N.  N.  to  have  been  always  a  very  bad  man, 
we  do  not  wish  to  see  him !  We,  therefore,  advise  you  to  try 
him  by  your  laws,  and  to  hang  him,  so  that  he  may  never  re 
turn  to  us  again." 

I  shall  conclude  this  subject  with  another  anecdote.  When 
in  the  winter  of  1788  and  1789,  the  Indian  nations  were  assem 
bling  at  Fort  Harmer,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum,  where 
a  treaty  was  to  be  held,  an  Indian  of  the  Seneca  nation  was  one 
morning  found  dead  on  the  bank  of  the  river.  The  Cornplanter, 
chief  of  this  nation,  observing  some  uneasiness  among  the  offi 
cers  and  people  of  the  place,  and  fearing  the  murder  at  this  time 
and  place,  might  perhaps  create  much  disturbance,  waited  in  the 
morning  on  the  Governor,  whom  he  desired  "  not  to  be  uneasy 
about  what  had  happened  the  preceding  night,  for  the  man  who 
had  been  killed  was  of  no  consequence."  This  meant  in  other 
words,  that  he  was  disowned  for  his  bad  conduct  by  his  country 
men,  and  that  his  death  would  not  be  a  loss  to  his  nation. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

EDUCATION. 

IT  may  justly  be  a  subject  of  wonder,  how  a  nation 
without  a  written  code  of  laws  or  system  of  jurispru 
dence,  without  any  form  or  constitution  of  govern 
ment,  and  without  even  a  single  elective  or  hereditary 
magistrate,  can  subsist  together  in  peace  and  harmony,  and  in 
the  exercise  of  the  moral  virtues ;  how  a  people  can  be  well  and 
effectually  governed  without  any  external  authority ;  by  the 
mere  force  of  the  ascendancy  which  men  of  superior  min.ds  have 
over  those  of  a  more  ordinary  stamp ;  by  a  tacit,  yet  universal 
submission  to  the  aristocracy  of  experience,  talents  and  virtue ! 
Such,  nevertheless,  is  the  spectacle  which  an  Indian  nation  ex 
hibits  to  the  eye  of  a  stranger.  I  have  been  a  witness  to  it  for 
a  long  series  of  years,  and  after  much  observation  and  reflection 
to  discover  the  cause  of  this  phenomenon,  I  think  I  have  reason 
to  be  satisfied  that  it  is  in  a  great  degree  to  be  ascribed  to  the 
pains  which  the  Indians  take  to  instill  at  an  early  age  honest 
and  virtuous  principles  upon  the  minds  of  their  children,  and 
to  the  method  which  they  pursue  in  educating  them.  This 
method  I  will  not  call  a  system  ;  for  systems  are  unknown  to 
these  sons  of  nature,  who,  by  following  alone  her  simple  dic 
tates,  have  at  once  discovered  and  follow  without  effort  that 
plain  obvious  path  which  the  philosophers  of  Europe  have  been 
so^lpng  in  search  of. 

The  first  step  that  parents  take  towards  the  education  of  their 
children,  is  to  prepare  them  for  future  happiness,  by  impressing 
upon  their  tender  minds,  that  they  are  indebted  for  their  exist- 
8  113 


114  EDUCATION. 

ence  to  a  great,  good  and  benevolent  Spirit,  who  not  only  has 
given  them  life,  but  has  ordained  them  for  certain  great  purposes. 
That  he  has  given  them  a  fertile  extensive  country  well  stocked 
with  game  of  every  kind  for  their  subsistence,  and  that  by  one 
of  his  inferior  spirits  he  has  also  sent  down  to  them  from  above 
corn,  pumpkins,  squashes,  beans  and  other  vegetables  for  their 
nourishment;  all  which  blessings  their  ancestors  have  enjoyed 
for  a  great  number  of  ages.  That  this  great  Spirit  looks  down  •'•' 
upon  the  Indians,  to  see  whether  they  are  grateful  to  him  and 
make  him  a  due  return  for  the  many  benefits  he  has  bestowed, 
and  therefore  that  it  is  their  duty  to  show  their  thankfulness  by 
worshipping  him,  and  doing  that  which  is  pleasing  in  his  sight. 
This  is  in  substance  the  first  lesson  taught,  and  from  time  to 
time  repeated  to  the  Indian  children,  which  naturally  leads  them 
to  reflect  and  gradually  to  understand  that  a  being  which  hath 
done  such  great  things  for  them,  and  all  to  make  them  happy, 
must  be  good  indeed,  and  that  it  is  surely  their  duty  to  do  some 
thing  that  will  please  him.  They  are  then  told  that  their  ances-  - 
tors,  who  received  all  this  from  the  hands  of  the  great  Spirit, 
and  lived  in  the  enjoyment  of  it,  must  have  been  informed  of 
what  would  be  most  pleasing  to  this  good  being,  and  of  the 
manner  in  which  his  favour  could  be  most  surely  obtained,  and 
they  are  directed  to  look  up  for  instruction  to  those  who  know 
all  this,  to  learn  from  them,  and  revere  them  for  their  wisdom 
and  the  knowledge  which  they  possess ;  this  creates  in  the 
children  a  strong  sentiment  of  respect  for  their  elders,  and  a 
desire  to  follow  their  advice  and  example..  Their  young  ambi 
tion  is  then  excited  by  telling  them  that  they  were  made  the 
superiors  of  all  other  creatures,  and  are  to  have  power  over 
them  ;  great  pains  are  taken  to  make  this  feeling  take  an  early 
root,  and  it  becomes  in  fact  their  ruling  passion  through  life ; 
for  no  pains  are  spared  to  instill  into  them  that  by  following  the 
advice  of  the  most  admired  and  extolled  hunter,  trapper  or 
warrior,  they  will  at  a  future  day  acquire  a  degree  of  fame  and 
reputation,  equal  to  that  which  he  possesses;  that  by  submitting 
to  the  counsels  of  the  aged,  the  chiefs,  the  men  superior  in 
wisdom,  they  may  also  rise  to  glory,  and  be  called  Wiscmen,  an 
honourable  title,  to  which  no  Indian  is  indifferent.  They  are 


EDUCATION.  115 

finally  told  that  if  they  respect  the  aged  and  infirm,  and  are  kind 
and  obliging  to  them,  they  will  be  treated  in  the  same  manner 
when  their  turn  comes  to  feel  the  infirmities  of  old  age. 

When  this  first  and  most  important  lesson  is  thought  to  be 
sufficiently  impressed  upon  children's  minds,  the  parents  next 
proceed  to  make  them  sensible  of  the  distinction  between  good 
and  evil;  they  tell  them  that  there  are  good  actions  and  bad 
actions,  both  equally  open  to  them  to  do  or  commit ;  that  good 
acts  are  pleasing  to  the  good  Spirit  which  gave  them  their  ex 
istence,  and  that  on  the  contrary,  all  that  is  bad  proceeds  from 
the  bad  spirit  who  has  given  them  nothing,  and  who  cannot  give 
them  any  thing  that  is  good,  because  he  has  it  not,  and  therefore 
he  envies  them  that  which  they  have  received  from  the  good 
Spirit,  who  is  far  superior  to  the  bad  one. 

This  introductory  lesson,  if  it  may  be  so  called,  naturally 
makes  them  wish  to  know  what  is  good  and  what  is  bad.  This 
the  parent  teaches  him  in  his  own  way,  that  is  to  say,  in  the 
way  in  which  he  was  himself  taught  by  his  own  parents.  It  is 
not  the  lesson  of  an  hour  nor  of  a  day,  it  is  rather  a  long  course 
more  of  practical  than  of  theoretical  instruction,  a  lesson,  which 
is  not  repeated  at  stated  seasons  or  times,  but  which  is  shewn, 
pointed  out,  and  demonstrated  to  the  child,  not  only  by  those 
under  whose  immediate  guardianship  he  is,  but  by  the  whole 
community,  who  consider  themselves  alike  interested  in  the 
direction  to  be  given  to  the  rising  generation. 

When  this  instruction  is  given  in  the  form  of  precepts,  it  must 
not  be  supposed  that  it  is  done  in  an  authoritative  or  forbidding 
tone,  but,  on  the  contrary,  in  the  gentlest  and  most  persuasive 
manner :  nor  is  the  parent's  authority  ever  supported  by  harsh 
or  compulsive  means  ;  no  whips,  no  punishments,  no  threats  are 
even  used  to  enforce  commands  or  compel  obedience.  The 
<  child's  pride  is  the  feeling  to  which  an  appeal  is  made,  which 
proves  successful  in  almost  every  instance.  A  father  needs  only 
to  say  in  the  presence  of  his  children :  u  I  want  such  a  thing 
done ;  I  want  one  of  my  children  to  go  upon  such  an  errand  ; 
let  me  see  who  is  the  good  child  that  will  do  it ! "  This  word 
good  operates,  as  it  were,  by  magic,  and  the  children  immediately 
vie  with  each  other  to  comply  with  the  wishes  of  their  parent. 


Il6  EDUCATION. 

If  a  father  sees  an  old  decrepid  man  or  woman  pass  by,  led 
along  by  a  child,  he  will  draw  the  attention  of  his  own  children 
to  the  object  by  saying- :  "  What  a  good  child  that  must  be, 
which  pays  such  attention  to  the  aged !  That  child,  indeed, 
looks  forward  to  the  time  when  it  will  likewise  be  old!"  or  he 
will  say,  "  May  the  great  Spirit,  who  looks  upon  him,  grant  this 
good  child  a  long  life  !  " 

In  this  manner  of  bringing  up  children,  the  parents,  as  I  have 
already  said,  are  seconded  by  the  whole  community.  If  a  child 
is  sent  from  his  father's  dwelling  to  carry  a  dish  of  victuals  to 
an  aged  person,  all  in  the  house  will  join  in  calling  him  a  good 
child.  They  will  ask  whose  child  he  is,  and  on  being  told,  will 
exclaim :  what !  has  the  Tortoise ',  or  the  little  Bear  (as  the  father's 
name  may  be)  got  such  a  good  child  ?  If  a  child  is  seen  passing 
through  the  streets  leading  an  old  decrepid  person,  the  villagers 
will  in  his  hearing,  and  to  encourage  all  the  other  children  who 
may  be  present  to  take  example  from  him,  call  on  one  another 
to  look  on  and  see  what  a  good  child  that  must  be.  And  so,  in 
most  instances,  this  method  is  resorted  to,  for  the  purpose  of 
instructing  children  in  things  that  are  good,  proper,  or  honour 
able  in  themselves ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  when  a  child  has 
committed  a  bad  act,  the  parent  will  say  to  him :  "  O  !  how 
grieved  I  am  that  my  child  has  done  this  bad  act !  I  hope  he 
will  never  do  so  again."  This  is  generally  effectual,  particularly 
if  said  in  the  presence  of  others.  The  whole  of  the  Indian' 
plan  of  education  tends  to  elevate  rather  than  to  depress  the 
mind,  and  by  that  means  to  make  determined  hunters  and  fear 
less  warriors. 

Thus,  when  a  lad  has  killed  his  first  game,  such  as  a  deer  or 
a  bear,  parents  who  have  boys  growing  up  will  not  fail  to  say 
to  some  person  in  the  presence  of  their  own  children  :  "  That 
boy  must  have  listened  attentively  to  the  aged  hunters,  for, 
though  young,  he  has  already  given  a  proof  that  he  will  become 
a  good  hunter  himself."  If,  on  the  other  hand,  a  young  man 
should  fail  of  giving  such  a  proof,  it  will  be  said  of  him  "  that 
he  did  not  pay  attention  to  the  discourses  of  the  aged." 

In  this  indirect  manner  is  instruction  on  all  subjects  given  to 
the  young  people.  They  are  to  learn  the  arts  of  hunting,  trap- 


EDUCATION.  117 

ping,  and  making  war,  by  listening  to  the  aged  when  conversing 
together  on  those  subjects,  each,  in  his  turn,  relating  how  he 
acted,  and  opportunities  are  afforded  to  them  for  that  purpose. 
By  this  mode  of  instructing  youth,  their  respect  for  the  aged  is 
kept  alive,  and  it  is  increased  by  the  reflection  that  the  same 
respect  will  be  paid  to  them  at  a  future  day,  when  young  per 
sons  will  be  attentive  to  what  they  shall  relate. 

This  method  of  conveying  instruction  is,  I  believe,  common 
to  most  Indian  nations  ;  it  is  so,  at  least,  amongst  all  those  that 
I  have  become  acquainted  with,  and  lays  the  foundation  for  that 
voluntary  submission  to  their  chiefs,  for  which  they  are  so  re 
markable.  Thus  has  been  maintained  for  ages,  without  convul 
sions  and  without  civil  discords,  this  traditional  government,  of 
which  the  world,  perhaps,  does  not  offer  another  example  ;  a 
government  in  which  there  are  no  positive  laws,  but  only  long 
established  habits  and  customs,  no  code  of  jurisprudence,  but 
the  experience  of  former  times,  no  magistrates,  but  advisers,  to 
whom  the  people,  nevertheless,  pay  a  willing  and  implicit  obe 
dience,  in  which  age  confers  rank,  wisdom  gives  power,  and 
moral  goodness  secures  a  title  to  universal  respect.  All  this 
seems  to  be  effected  by  the  simple  means  of  an  excellent  mode 
of  education,  by  which  a  strong  attachment  to  ancient  customs, 
respect  for  age,  and  the  love  of  virtue  are  indelibly  impressed 
upon  the  minds  of  youth,  so  that  these  impressions  acquire 
strength  as  time  pursues  its  course,  and  as  they  pass  through 
successive  generations. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

LANGUAGES. 

;N  all  the  North  American  territories  bounded  to  the 
north  and  east  by  the  Atlantic  ocean,  and  to  the 
south  and  west  by  the  river  Mississippi,  and  the  pos 
sessions  of  the  English  Hudson's  Bay  company,  there 
appears  to  be  but  four  principal  languages,  branching  out,  it  is 
true,  into  various  dialects,  but  all  derived  from  one  or  the  other 
of  the  four  mother  tongues,  some  of  which  extend  even  beyond 
the  Mississippi,  and  perhaps,  as  far  as  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
These  four  languages  are  : 

I.  THE  KARALIT. 

THIS  language  is  spoken  by  the  inhabitants  of  Greenland  and 
on  the  Continent  by  the  Eskimaux  Indians  of  the  coast  of  Lab 
rador.  Its  forms  and  principles  are  sufficiently  known  by  nl£ans 
of  the  Grammar  and  Dictionary  of  the  venerable  Egede,1  and 
the  works  of  Bartholinus,  Wceldike,  Thornhallesen,2  Cranz3  and 
others.  It  is  much  cultivated  by  the  Missionaries  of  the  Society 
of  the  United  Brethren,  by  whom  we  may  expect  to  see  its  prin- 

1  Grammatica  Groenlandico-Danico-Latina,  edita  a  P.  Egede,  Hafnise,  1760,  Svo. 
Dictionarium  Groenlandico-Danico-Latinum,  adornatum  a  P.  Egede,  Hafnire,  1750, 

Svo. 

2  For  "  Thornhallesen  "  read  "  Thorhallesen" 

3  [The  Moravians  have  been  conducting  a  successful  mission  in  Greenland  since 
1733.     In  1761,  David  Crantz,  one  of  their  clergymen,  sailed  for  that  distant  country 
to  collect  material  for  a  history,  touching  its  physical  aspect  and  resources,  the  man 
ners  and  customs  of  the  native  tribes.  Crantz's  work  was  published  at  Barby,  Saxony, 
in  1765,  under  the  title  of  "Historic  -von  Grdnland,  enthaltend  cfie  Beschreibun^  des 
Landes  und  der  Einwohner  insbeomdere,  die  Geschichte  der  dortigen  Mission  der  evan- 
gelischen  Britder  zu  Neu-Herrnhut  und  Lichtenfels.v     An  P^nglish  translation  ap 
peared  in  London,  in  1766.] 

118 


LANGUAGES.  IIQ 

ciples  still  further  elucidated.  It  is  in  Greenland  that  begin 
those  comprehensive  grammatical  forms  which  are  said  to  char 
acterise  the  languages  of  the  vast  American  continent,  as  far  as 
they  are  known,  and  are  the  more  remarkable  when  contrasted 
with  the  simplicity  of  construction  of  the  idioms  spoken  on  the 
opposite  European  shores,  in  Iceland,  Denmark,  Sweden  and 
other  countries.  It  appears  evident  from  this  single  circum 
stance,  that  America  did  not  receive  its  original  population 
from  Europe. 

II.  THE  IROQUOIS. 

THIS  language  in  various  dialects  is  spoken  by  the  Mengwe 
or  Six  Nations,  the  Wyandots  or  Hurons,  the  Naudowessies, 
the  Assinipoetuk,  called  by  the  French  Assiniboils,  Assinipoils, 
or  Sioux,  and  by  other  tribes,  particularly  beyond  the  St.  Law 
rence.  Father  La  Hontan  distinguishes  this  class  of  languages 
by  the  name  of  the  Huron,  probably  because  that  nation  was 
better  known  to  the  French,  whose  allies  they  were,  than  the 
Iroquois,  who  were  in  alliance  with  the  English.1  All  these 
languages,  however  they  may  be  called  in  a  general  sense,  are 
dialects  of  the  same  mother  tongue,  and  have  considerable  affin 
ity  with  each  other.  Mr.  Carver  is  mistaken  when  he  describes 
the  Naudowessie  as  belonging  to  a  class  different  from  the  Iro- 
quoi*.2  It  is  sufficient  to  compare  the  vocabularies  that  we  have 

1  The  Hurons,  a  great  while,  perhaps  centuries  ago,  became  disunited  from  the 
Iroquois ;  many  wars  took  place  between  them,  and  the  former  withdrew  at  last  to 
remote  places,  where  they  settled,  and  were  discovered  by  French  Missionaries  and 
traders  :  of  this  last  I  was  repeatedly  assured  during  my  residence  at  Detroit,  between 
1781  and  1786. 

2  Carver  says  that  there  are  in  North  America,  four  different  languages,  the  Iro 
quois  to  the  east,  the  Chippeway  or  Algonkin  to  the  northwest,  the  Naudowessie  to 
the  west,  and  the  Cherokee,  &c.  to  the  south.     Travels,  ch.  17,  Capt.  Carver,  though 
he  appears  to  have  been  in  general  an  accurate  observer,  resided  too  short  a  time 
among  the  Indians  to  have  a  correct  knowledge  of  their  languages.     [Mr.  Hecke- 
welder  quotes  here  and  elsewhere  from  "  Three   Years'  Travels  through  the  Interior 
Parts  of  North  America  for  more  than  Five  Thousand  Miles,  drv.,"  by  Capt.  Jonathan 
Carver  of  the  Provincial  Troops  in  America,  Phila.,  1796.     Those  tribes  of  the  Nau 
dowessies  among  whom  Carver  resided  for  five  months,  dwelt  about  the  River  St. 
Pierre,  200  miles  above  its  junction  with  the  Mississippi.     This  was  the  extreme 
westerly  point  reached  by  the  adventurous  traveller.     The  entire  nation  of  the  Nau 
dowessies,  according  to  Carver,  mustered  upwards  of  2000  fighting  men.] 


I2O  LANGUAGES. 

of  these  two  idioms,  to  see  the  great  similitude  that  subsists 
between  them.  We  do  not,  unfortunately,  possess  a  single 
grammar  of  any  of  these  dialects  ;  we  have  nothing,  in  fact, 
besides  the  fragment  of  Zeisberger's  Dictionary,  which  I  have 
already  mentioned,  but  a  large  vocabulary  of  the  Huron,1  com 
posed  by  Father  Sagard,  a  good  and  pious  French  Missionary, 
but  of  very  limited  abilities,  and  who  also  resided  too  short  a 
time  among  that  nation  to  be  able  to  give  a  correct  account 
of  their  language.  He  represents  it  in  his  preface,  as  poor, 
imperfect,  anomalous,  and  inadequate  to  the  clear  expression 
of  ideas,  in  which  he  is  contradicted  by  others  whom  we  have 
reason  to  believe  better  informed.  Zeisberger  considered  the 
Iroquois  (of  which  the  Huron  is  a  dialect,)  as  a  rich  and  com 
prehensive  idiom.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  a  grammar  which 
he  had  composed  of  it,  and  the  best  part  of  his  Dictionary,  are 
irretrievably  lost.  Sir  William  Johnson  speaks  highly  of  the 
powers  of  this  language;2  Golden,3  though  he  did  not  know  it 
himself,  speaks  in  the  same  manner  from  the  information  of 
others.  Indeed,  Father  Sagard's  Dictionary  itself,  when  atten 
tively  read  by  a  person  acquainted  with  the  forms  of  Indian 
languages,  affords  sufficient  intrinsic  evidence  of  the  mistakes 
of  the  good  father  who  composed  it. 

III.  THE  LENAPE. 

THIS  is  the  most  widely  extended  language  of  any  of  those 
that  are  spoken  on  this  side  of  the  Mississippi.  It  prevails  in 
the  extensive  regions  of  Canada,  from  the  coast  of  Labrador  to 
the  mouth  of  Albany  river  which  falls  into  the  southernmost 
part  of  Hudson's  bay,  and  from  thence  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods, 
which  forms  the  north-western  boundary  of  the  United  States! 
It  appears  to  be  the  language  of  all  the  Indians  of  that  exten 
sive  country,  except  those  of  the  Iroquois  stock,  which  are  by 
far  the  least  numerous.  Farther  to  the  north-west,  in  the  terri- 
tories  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  other  Indian  nations  have 

1  Le  grand  Voyage  du  pays  des  Hurons,  par  Samuel  Sagard,  Paris,  1632.    To  which 
is  added,  a  Dictionary  of  the  Huron  language,  with  a  preface. 

2  Philos.  Trans.  Abr.,  vol.  Ixiii.,  p.  142. 

3  Hist,  of  the  Five  Nations,  p.  14. 


LANGUAGES.  121 

been  discovered,  such  as  the  Blackfoot  Indians,  Sussee  Indians, 
Snake  Indians,  and  others,  whose  languages  are  said  to  be  dif 
ferent  from  the  Iroquois  and  the  Lenape,  but  we  are  not  able  to 
form  a  very  correct  judgment  respecting  those  idioms  from  the 
scanty  vocabularies  which  have  been  given  us  by  Mackenzie, 
Umfreville  and  other  travellers.  We  must  wait  for  further  light 
before  we  decide. 

Out  of  the  limits  of  Canada  few  Iroquois  are  found,  except 
the  remnants  of  those  who  were  once  settled  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  great  Lakes,  in  the  northern  parts  of  the  now  State  of  New 
York.  There  are  yet  some  Wyandots  in  the  vicinity  of  Detroit. 
All  the  rest  of  the  Indians  who  now  inhabit  this  country  to  the 
Mississippi,  are  of  the  Lenape  stock,  and  speak  dialects  of  that 
language.  It  is  certain  that  at  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  the 
Europeans,  they  were  in  possession  of  all  the  coast  from  the 
northernmost  point  of  Nova  Scotia  to  the  Roanoke.  Hence 
they  were  called  Wapanachki,  or  Abenakis,  men  of  the  East. 
La  Hontan  gives  us  a  list  of  the  Indian  nations  of  ancient 
Acadia,  all  speaking  dialects  of  the  Abenaki,  or  as  he  calls 
it,  of  the  Algonquin.  They  were  the  Abenakis,  Micmacs,  Cani- 
bas,  Mahingans  (Mohicans),  Openangos,  Soccokis,  and  Etche- 
mins,  from  whom  all  Nova  Scotia,  (excepting  the  peninsula,) 
and  a  part  of  the  now  district  of  Maine,  were  once  called  by  the 
French  the  country  of  the  Etchemins.  He  does  not  speak  of  the 
Souriquois,  who  are  also  known  to  have  inhabited  Acadia,  and 
likewise  spoke  a  dialect  of  the  Lenape. 

In  the  interior  of  the  country  we  find  every  where  the  Lenape 
and  their  kindred  tribes.  The  Miamis,  or  Twightwees,  the 
Potowatomies,  the  Messissaugees,  the  Kickapoos,  all  those 
Indian  nations  who  once  inhabited,  and  parts  of  whom  still 
inhabit  the  interior  of  our  country  on  this  side  of  the  Missis 
sippi  and  the  great  Lakes,  are  unquestionably,  from  their  dialects, 
of  Lenape  origin.  The  Shawanos,  it  is  said,  formerly  dwelt 
upon  the  river  Savannah,  in  Georgia,  and  apart  of  them  remain 
ing  in  that  country,  associated  with  the  Creeks,  still  retain  their 
language.1  As  far  as  we  are  able  to  judge  from  the  little  kno\v- 

1  Barton's  New  Views,  Ed.  1798.     Prelim.  Disc.,  p.  32. 


122  LANGUAGES. 

ledge  that  has  been  transmitted  to  us  of  the  language  of  the 
Indians  who  once  inhabited  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  North 
Carolina,  they  all  appear  to  have  belonged  to  the  same  stock, 
the  Nanticokes  have  been  shewn  to  have  been  intimately  con 
nected  with  the  Lenape,  and  among  those  who  called  them 
grandfather.  Two  pretty  copious  vocabularies  of  their  language, 
in  the  possession  of  the  Historical  Committee  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society,  one  of  them  communicated  by  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  and  the  other  by  myself,  prove  it  beyond  a  doubt  to  have 
been  a  dialect  of  the  Lenape.1  The  Canai  or  Kanhawas,  who 
have  given  their  name  to  a  river  in  Virginia  which  empties 
itself  into  the  Ohio,  are  known  to  have  been  of  the  same  stock. 
The  Indian  names  of  rivers,  mountains,  and  towns,  through  that 
vast  extent  of  country,  appear  generally  derived  from  the 
Lenape  language. 

The  Baron  de  La  Hontan,  is  one  of  the  first  writers,  I  believe, 
who  have  spoken  of  the  universality  of  this  idiom ;  but  it  is 
extraordinary  that  he  has  not  said  a  word  of  the  Lenni  Lenape, 
that  great  and  powerful  nation.  He  calls  this  language  the 
Algonquin  tongue,  although  he  describes  that  people  as  "an 
erratic  sort  of  savages,  who,  like  the  Arabs,  had  no  settled 
abode,"2  and  admits,  that  at  the  time  when  he  wrote,  their  num 
ber  did  not  exceed  200.  What  he  says  on  this  subject,  however, 
is  so  much  to  my  purpose,  that  I  hope  I.  shall  be  permitted  to 
make  a  small  extract  from  it. 

"There  are,"  says  the  Baron,  "but  two  mother  tongues  in  the 
whole  extent  of  Canada,  which  I  confine  within  the  limits  of  the 
Mississippi ;  they  are  the  Huron  and  the  Algonquin.  The  first  is 
understood  by  the  Iroquois,  for  the  difference  between  these  two 
is  no  greater  than  that  between  the  Norman  and  the  French. 
The  second,  namely  the  Algonquin,  is  as  much  esteemed  among 
the  savages  as  the  Greek  and  Latin  are  in  Europe ;  though  it 

1  The  late  Dr.  Barton,  in  the  work  above  quoted,  append.,  p.  3,*  seems  to  doubt 
this  fact,  and  relies  on  a  series  of  numerals  which  I  once  communicated  to  him,  and 
was  found  among  the  papers  of  the  late  Rev.  Mr.  Pyrlzeus.     But  it  is  by  no  means 
certain  that  those  numerals  were  taken  from  the  language  of  the  Nanticokes,  and  the 
vocabularies  above  mentioned  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the  origin  of  that  dialect. 

*  For  "page  3"  read  " $age  5." 

2  Letter  v. 


LANGUAGES.  123 

would  seem  that  the  aborigines,  to  whom  it  owes  its  original, 
disgrace  it  by  the  thinness  of  their  nation,  for  their  whole  number 
does  not  amount  to  two  hundred"^ 

What  the  Baron  says  here  of  this  language  is  very  correct ; 
but  why  does  he  call  it  the  Algonquin,  and  ascribe  its  origin 
to  that  miserable  wandering  tribe?  He  had  the  Abenakis  at 
hand,  whom  in  another  place  he  puts  at  the  head  of  the  tribes  in 
habiting  Nova  Scotia,  and  who  still  preserved  the  generic  name 
of  the  whole  nation,  WapanacJiki,  which  the  French  have 
softened  to  suit  the  analogy  of  their  own  tongue,  by  which 
name  the  different  nations  and  tribes  of  the  Lenape  stock  still 
recognise  each  other  to  this  day.  It  is  probable  that  he  did  not 
sufficiently  understand  their  language,2  to  have  much  conversa 
tion  with  them,  otherwise  they  would  have  informed  him  that 
they  derived  their  origin  from  a  great  and  powerful  nation 
residing  in  the  interior  of  the  country,  whom  they  revered 
as  their  grandfather,  at  whose  door  the  great  national -council 
fire  was  kept  constantly  burning,  whose  badge  was  the  Turtle, 
and  whose  supremacy  was  acknowledged  by  all  the  kindred 
tribes. 

Father  Charlevoix,  who  also  speaks  of  the  universality  of  this 
language,  commits  the  same  error  in  ascribing  its  origin  to  the 
Algonquins.  "  In  the  southern  part  of  Hudson's  Bay,"  says  he, 
"  the  trade  is  carried  on  with  the  Matassins,  the  Monsonies,  the 
Christinaux  (Knisteneaux),  and  the  Assinipoils,  the  three  first  of 
which  speak  the  Algonquin  language."  3  In  a  later  publication, 
(I  think  by  a  Mr.  Winterbotham,)  of  which,  during  my  travels, 
some  years  ago,  I  had  merely  a  glance,  I  found  by  some  words 
he  had  put  down  in  the  language  of  those  people,  that  they 
were  Minsi  or  Monseys,  a  branch  of  the  wolf  tribe  of  the  Lenape. 
So  indeed,  one  of  their  names,  Monsonies,  seems  of  itself  to 
indicate.  The  name  of  the  Matassins,  means  in  their  language 

1  Letter  xxv. 

2  He  says  that  it  is  not  copious,  and  is  only  adapted  to  the  necessities  and  con 
veniences  of  life.     These  are  the  ideas  which  strangers  and  philosophers,  reasoning 
a  priori,  entertain   of  Indian  languages;  but  those  who  are  well  acquainted  with 
them  think  very  differently.     And  yet  the  Baron  says  that  the  Algonquin  is  "  the 
finest  and  the  most  universal  language  on  the  Continent." 

3  Letter  xi.,  p.  276. 


124  LANGUAGES. 

a  tobacco  pipe,  and  so  it  does  in  the  Monsey  to  this  day.  And 
they  all  speak  the  Algonquin,  a  language,  say  both  Charlevoix 
and  La  Hontan,  universally  known  for  a  thousand  leagues  round. 
The  last  mentioned  author  subjoins  a  vocabulary  of  what  he 
calls  the  Algonquin  tongue,  which  bears  a  greater  affinity  to  the 
language  of  the  Unamis  or  Turtle1  tribe  of  the  Lenape  than  that 
does  to  the  idiom  of  the  Monsey  or  Wolf  tribe  of  the  same 
nation.  I  find  many  words  in  the  Algonquin  (as  given  by  La 
Hontan),  which  are  exactly  the  same  as  in  the  Unami,  while 
others  bear  more  resemblance  to  the  Chippeway,  also  a  dialect 
of  the  Lenape,  spoken  by  a  tribe  in  connexion  with  the  Dela- 
wares,  and  who  call  them  grandfather. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  therefore,  that  this  universal  language, 
so  much  admired  and  so  generally  spoken  by  the  Indian  nations, 
is  that  of  the  Lenni  Lenape,  and  is  improperly  named  the  Chip 
peway  by  Carver,  and  the  Algonquin  by  La  Hontan.  The  cele 
brated  Professor  Vater,  in  his  excellent  continuation  of  Adelung's 
Mithridates,  calls  the  class  of  languages  derived  from  this  source, 
"the  Chippewayo-Delawarian,  or  Algonkino-Mohican  stock."2 
It  is,  perhaps,  indifferent  for  philological  purposes,  whether  a 
language  be  called  the  Delaware  or  the  Chippeway,  the  Algon 
quin  or  the  Mohican ;  but  every  body  must  be  sensible  of  the 
inconvenience  of  those  long  compound  names,  which  leave  no 
fixed  or  determinate  idea  upon  the  mind.  For  the  purpose  of 
general  description  it  seems  better  to  designate  the  languages 
of  those  connected  tribes  by  the  name  of  their  common  grand 
father,  the  Lenni  Lenape,  or  by  the  generic  denomination  uni 
versally  adopted  among  them,  Wapanachki,  or  Abenaki.  I  have 
preferred  the  former  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  an  ancient  and  once 
powerful  nation,  and  in  the  hope  that  her  name  may  be  pre 
served,  at  least,  in  the  records  of  philological  science. 

This  beautiful  language,  and  those  which  are  derived  from  it, 
though  more  has  been  written  upon  them  than  on  any  of  the 
other  languages  of  these  parts  of  the  North  American  continent, 

1  It  should  be  properly  Tortoise  ;  but  this  word  seems  in  a  fair  way  to  be  entirely 
superseded  by  Turtle,  as  well  in  England  as  in  this  country. 

2  Chippewdisch-Delawarischer,  oder  Algonkisch-Moheganischer,  Stamm.     Mithrid., 
part  III.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  337. 


LANGUAGES.  125 

are  as  yet  but  little  known.  The  grammar  of  the  Natick  dialect 
published  by  Eliot,  at  Cambridge  in  Massachusetts,  in  the  year 
1666,  has  long  been  out  of  print,  and  is  to  be  found  only  in  very 
few  libraries  in  the  United  States ;  Dr.  Edwards's  little  tract  on 
the  Mohican  language,  although  printed  twice,  does  not  appear 
to  have  had  much  circulation,  and  is  not  alone  sufficient  to  give 
an  idea  of  the  forms  and  construction  of  these  Indian  dialects. 
Zeisberger's  Delaware  spelling  book  is  but  a  collection  of  words, 
and  does  not  contain  any  grammatical  explanations.  The  learned 
Vater  has  taken  immense  pains,  from  the  scanty  helps  within 
his  reach,  to  discover  the  grounds  and  principles  of  these  idioms, 
and  what  he  has  written  on  the  subject  is  a  proof  of  what  talents 
and  industry  can  effect  with  little  means.  But  still  the  matter 
is  not  sufficiently  understood.  There  is  in  the  library  of  the 
society  of  the  United  Brethren  in  this  town,  an  excellent  MS. 
grammar  of  the  Lenni  Lenape,  written  in  German  by  Zeisberger. 
I  understand  that  the  Historical  Committee  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society  are  going  to  publish  an  English  translation 
of  this  valuable  work.  I  rejoice  in  the  prospect  of  this  publica 
tion,  which  will  give  a  clear  and  satisfactory  view  of  the  true 
genius  and  character  of  the  languages  of  the  Indian  nations.  At 
the  request  of  the  same  Committee,  I  have  endeavoured  to  give 
some  further  development  of  the  principles  which  that  gram 
mar  contains,  in  a  series  of  letters  to  their  Secretary,  which,  I  am 
informed,  are  also  to  be  printed.  This  supersedes  the  necessity 
of  my  entering  here  into  more  details  on  this  interesting  subject. 
I  hope  the  result  of  these  publications  will  be  to  satisfy  the  world 
that  the  languages  of  the  Indians  are  not  so  poor,  so  devoid  of 
variety  of  expression,  so  inadequate  to  the  communication  even 
of  abstract  ideas,  or  in  a  word  so  barbarous,  as  has  been  gene 
rally  imagined. 

IV.  THE  FLORIDIAN. 

I  CALL  by  this  generic  name,  the  languages  spoken  by  those 
Indian  nations  who  inhabit  the  southern  frontier  of  the  United 
States  and  the  Spanish  Province  of  Florida.  They  are  the 
Creeks  or  Muskohgees,  Chickesaws,  Choctaws,  Pascagoulas, 
Cherokees  or  Cheerakees,  and  several  others.  It  is  said  that 


£26  LANGUAGES. 

there  once  existed  among  them  a  powerful  nation  called  the 
Natchez,  whose  language  was  the  mother  tongue  of  all  those 
southern  dialects.  We  are  told  also  of  an  Apalachian  nation, 
who  it  is  said  lived  in  the  western  parts  of  Louisiana,  and  were 
a  part  of  the  great  nation  of  the  Apalachians,  who  resided  in  the 
mountains  which  bear  their  name,  and  whose  branches  were 
settled  under  different  denominations,  in  the  vast  extent  of 
country  situated  between  Louisiana,  Canada  and  New  England.1 
In  this  great  Apalachian  nation  we  cannot  help  recognising  our 
friends  the  Lenape,  or  Wapanacliki,  whose  name  the  French  in 
the  south  have  as  easily  corrupted  into  Apalaches,  as  those  in 
the  north  into  Abenakis.  It  was  they  who  gave  their  name  to 
the  Apalachian  mountains,  once  so  called,  but  which  of  late 
have  resumed  their  former  appellation  of  Alligewi,  or  Allegheny. 
Mr.  Vater  thinks  that  the  remains  of  those  Apalachians  are  still 
to  be  found  in  the  Catawbas,2  who  are  sometimes  named  Chak- 
tawas3  and  probably  are  the  same  who  by  contraction  are  now 
called  Choktaws. 

Other  writers  speak  to  us  of  the  Mobilians,4  as  the  nation  from 
which  the  neighbouring  tribes  derived  their  origin,  and  whose 
language  was  their  mother  tongue.  The  fact  is,  that  we  know 
very  little  about  these  southern  Indians,  and  on  the  subject  of 
their  languages  we  have  nothing  to  guide  our  enquiries,  but  a 
few  words  given  us  by  Adair,  and  some  that  have  been  collected 
from  various  sources  by  the  late  Dr.  Barton.  We  are  not,  how 
ever,  without  the  means  of  obtaining  full  and  accurate  infor 
mation  on  this  interesting  subject,  and  I  hope  the  historical 
committee  will  be  successful  in  the  measures  which  they  are 
about  to  take  to  procure  it.  Mr.  Meigs,  the  United  States  agent 
with  the  Cherokees,  Mr.  Mitchell,  agent  to  the  Creeks,  and  the 
Rev.  John  Gambold,  who  has  long  lived  as  a  Missionary  of  the 

.*  Vater  in  Mithrid.,  part  III.,  vol.  3,  p.  283,  quotes  De  Laet,  Novus  Orbis,  pp.  98, 
103,  Du  Pratz,  vol.  2,  pp.  208,  9,  Rochefort,  Histoire  Natur.  des  Antilles,  pp.  351, 
394,  and  Hervas,  Catologo  delle  Lingue,  p.  90;  none  of  which  works  I  have  it  in 
my  power  to  consult. 

2  Mithrid.,  ibid. 

3  Loskiel,  part  I.,  ch.  i. 

4  Duvallon,  Vue  de  la  Colonie  Espagnole  du  Mississippi,  quoted    by  Vater,  in 
Mithrid.,  ibid.,  p.  297. 


LANGUAGES.  I2/ 

Society  of  the  United  Brethren  with  the  former  of  these  nations, 
are  well  able  to  satisfy  their  enquiries,  and  I  have  no  doubt  will 
be  happy  to  give  their  aid  to  the  advancement  of  the  literature 
of  their  country. 

It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  remark,  and  much  to  be  regretted,  that 
the  French  and  English,  who  have  been  so  long  in  possession 
of  the  immense  country  extending  from  Labrador  to  the  Missis 
sippi,  have  written  so  little  respecting  the  Indian  languages  of 
this  part  of  the  American  continent.  Among  the  English,  Eliot 
alone,  and  among  the  French,  Father  Sagard,  can  be  said  to 
have  published  anything  on  this  subject  that  is  worth  notice. 
Zeisberger  was  a  German,  and  Mr.  Edwards  an  American.  On 
the  contrary,  the  Spaniards1  have  published  a  great  number  of 
grammars  and  dictionaries  of  the  Indian  languages  spoken  within 
the  limits  of  their  American  possessions,  and  deserve  much 
credit  for  these  exertions.  It  is  not  yet  too  late  for  the  inde 
pendent  Americans  to  retrieve  the  neglect  of  their  forefathers ; 
but  no  time  should  be  lost,  as  the  Indian  nations  are  fast  disap 
pearing  from  the  face  of  our  country,  and  our  posterity  may 
have  to  regret  hereafter  that  greater  pains  were  not  taken  to 
preserve  the  memory  of  their  traditions,  customs,  manners,  and 

LANGUAGES. 

1  The  Bibliotheca  Americana  records  45  grammars  and  25  dictionaries  of  the  lan 
guages  spoken  in  Mexico  only,  and  85  works  of  different  authors  on  religious  and 
moral  subjects  written  or  translated  into  some  of  those  languages. 


CHAPTER   X. 

SIGNS  AND    HIEROGLYPHICS. 

has  been  asserted  by  many  persons  that  the  lan 
guages  of  the  Indians  are  deficient  in  words,  and  that, 
in  order  to  make  themselves  understood,  they  are 
obliged  to  resort  to  motions  and  signs  with  their 
hands.  This  is  entirely  a  mistake.  I  do  not  know  a  nation  of 
whom  foreigners  do  not  say  the  same  thing.  The  fact  is,  that 
in  every  country,  signs  and  motions  with  the  hands  more  or  less 
accompany  discourse,  particularly  when  delivered  with  a  certain 
degree  of  earnestness  and  warmth.  Foreigners,  who  are  not 
very  conversant  with  a  language,  pay  in  general  as  much  and 
sometimes  more  attention  to  these  motions  than  to  the  words 
of  the  speaker,  in  order  the  better  to  be  able  to  understand  what 
falls  from  him.  Hence,  almost  every  nation  charges  the  others 
with  too  much  gesticulation  in  speaking.  For  a  similar  reason, 
a  foreign  language  is  generally  thought  to  be  spoken  quicker 
than  our  own,  while  the  truth  is,  that  it  is  our  ear  which  is  slow 
in  distinguishing  the  words,  not  the  voice  which  speaks  that  is 
too  quick  in  uttering  them. 

The  Indians  do  not  gesticulate  more  when  they  speak  than 
other  nations  do.  In  their  public  speeches  they  will,  like  our 
preachers  and  lawyers,  enforce  what  they  say  by  gestures  and 
motions  of  the  body  and  hands,  in  order  to  give  greater  weight 
to  their  observations,  or  to  represent  the  subject  they  speak  of 
in  a  more  lively  manner  than  can  be  done  by  words  alone ;  but 
in  common  conversation  they  make  few  of  those  motions,  and 
not  more,  I  believe,  than  we  do  ourselves ;  even  the  women, 
who  every  where  speak  more  than  the  men,  never  want  words 
to  express  themselves,  but  rather  seem  to  have  too  many,  and 

128 


SIGNS    AND    HIEROGLYPHICS.  129 

they  do  not  oftener  employ  gestures  in  aid  of  their  conversation 
than  the  vivacity  of  their  sex  induces  them  to  do  every  where  else. 

It  is  true  that  the  Indians  have  a  language  of  signs,  by  which 
they  communicate  with  each  other  on  occasions  when  speaking 
is  not  prudent  or  proper,  as,  for  instance,  when  they  are  about  to 
meet  an  enemy,  and  by  speaking  they  would  run  the  risk  of 
being  discovered.  By  this  means  they  also  make  themselves 
understood  to  those  nations  of  Indians  whose  languages  they 
are  not  acquainted  with,  for  all  the  Indian  nations  understand 
each  other  in  this  way.  It  is  also,  in  many  cases,  a  saving  of 
words,  which  the  Indians  are  much  intent  on,  believing  that  too 
much  talking  disgraces  a  man.  When,  therefore,  they  will  re 
late  something  extraordinary  in  a  few  words,  they  make  use  of 
corresponding  signs,  which  is  very  entertaining  to  those  who 
listen  and  attend  to  them,  and  who  are  acquainted  both  with  the 
language  and  the  signs,  being  very  much  as  if  somebody  were 
to  explain  a  picture  set  before  them.  But  they  never  make  use 
of  signs  to  supply  any  deficiency  of  language,  as  they  have 
words  and  phrases  sufficient  to  express  every  thing. 

I  have  frequently  questioned  Indians  who  had  been  educated 
at  our  schools,  and  could  understand,  read,  write,  and  speak 
both  English  and  German,  whether  they  could  express  their 
ideas  better  in  either  of  those  languages  than  in  their  own,  and 
they  have  always  and  uniformly  answered  that  they  could  ex 
press  themselves  with  far  the  greatest  ease  in  their  own  Indian, 
and  that  they  never  were  at  a  loss  for  words  or  phrases  in  which 
to  clothe  every  idea  that  occurred  to  them,  without  being  in 
any  case  obliged  to  gesticulate  or  make  motions  with  their  hands 
or  otherwise.  From  the  knowledge  which  I  have  acquired  of 
their  language,  I  have  reason  to  be  satisfied  that  it  is  so.  Indeed, 
how  can  it  be  doubted,  when  we  have  the  whole  of  the  Bible 
and  New  Testament  translated  into  one  of  their  dialects,  and 
when  we  see  our  ministers,  when  once  familiar  with  the  lan 
guage  of  the  nation  with  which  they  reside,  preach  to  them 
without  the  least  difficulty  on  the  most  abstruse  subjects  of  the 
Christian  faith?  It  is  true,  that  ideas  are  not  always  expressed 
in  those  languages  in  the  same  words,  or  under  the  same  gram 
matical  forms  as  in  our  own ;  where  we  would  use  one  part  of 
9 


130  SIGNS    AND    HIEROGLYPHICS. 

speech,  we  are  obliged  to  employ  another,  and  one  single  word 
with  them  will  not  seldom  serve  a  purpose  for  which  we  would 
have  to  employ  several  ;  but  still,  the  ideas  are  communicated, 
and  pass  with  clearness  and  precision  from  mind  to  mind.  Thus 
the  end  of  oral  language  is  completely  obtained,  and  more,  I 
think,  cannot  be  required. 

The  Indians  do  not  possess  our  art  of  writing,  they  have  no 
alphabets,  or1  any  mode  of  representing  to  the  eye  the  sounds 
of  words  spoken,  yet  they  have  certain  hieroglyphics,  by  which 
they  describe  facts  in  so  plain  a  manner,  that  those  who  are 
conversant  with  those  marks  can  understand  them  with  the 
greatest  ease,  as  easily,  indeed,  as  we  can  understand  a  piece  of 
writing.  For  instance,  on  a  piece  of  bark,  or  on  a  large  tree 
with  the  bark  taken  off  for  the  purpose,  by  the  side  of  a  path, 
they  can  and  do  give  every  necessary  information  to  those  who 
come  by  the  same  way  ;  they  will  in  that  manner  let  them  know, 
that  they  were  a  war  party  of  so  many  men,  from  such  a  place, 
of  such  a  nation  and  such  a  tribe ;  how  many  of  each  tribe  were 
in  the  party;  to  which  tribe  the  chief  or  captain  belonged;  in 
what  direction  they  proceeded  to  meet  the  enemy;  how  many 
days  they  were  out  and  how  many  returning;  what  number 
of  the  enemy  they  had  killed,  how  many  prisoners  they  had 
brought;  how  many  scalps  they  had  taken;  whether  they  had 
lost  any  of  their  party,  and  how  many ;  what  enemies  they  had 
met  with,  and  how  many  they  consisted  of;  of  what  nation  or 
tribe  their  captain  was,  &c. ;  all  which,  at  a  single  glance,  is 
perfectly  well  understood  by  them.  In  the  same  manner  they 
describe  a  chase :  all  Indian  nations  can  do  this,  although  they 
have  not  all  the  same  marks  ;  yet  I  have  seen  the  Delawares 
read  with  ease  the  drawings  of  the  Chippeways,  Mingoes,  Shaw- 
anos,  and  Wyandots,  on  similar  subjects. 

While  Indians  are  travelling  to  the  place  of  their  destination, 
whether  it  be  on  a  journey  to  their  distant  hunting  grounds  or 
on  a  war  excursion,  some  of  the  young  men  are  sent  out  to  hunt 
by  the  way,  who,  when  they  have  killed  a  deer,  bear,  or  other 
animal,  bring  it  to  the  path,  ready  to  be  taken  away  by  those 
who  are  coming  along,  (often  with  horses)  to  the  place  of  en- 

1  For  "or"  read  "nor." 


SIGNS    AND    HIEROGLYPHICS.  13! 

campment,  when  they  all  meet  at  night.  Having  hung  up  the 
meat  by  the  side  of  the  path,  these  young  men  make  a  kind  of 
sun-dial,  in  order  to  inform  those  who  are  coming  of  the  time 
of  day  it  was  at  the  time  of  their  arrival  and  departure.  A  clear 
place  in  the  path  is  sought  for,  and  if  not  readily  found,  one  is 
made  by  the  side  of  it,  and  a  circle  or  ring  being  drawn  on  the 
sand  or  earth,  a  stick  of  about  two  or  three  feet  in  length  is  fixed 
in  the  centre,  with  its  upper  end  bent  towards  that  spot  in  the 
horizon  where  the  sun  stood  at  the  time  of  their  arrival  or  de 
parture.  If  both  are  to  be  noted  down,  two  separate  sticks  are 
set ;  but  generally  one  is  sufficient,  namely,  for  the  time  of  de 
parture. 

Hunters  have  particular  marks,  which  they  make  on  the  trees, 
where  they  strike  off  from  the  path  to  their  hunting  grounds  or 
place  of  encampment,  which  is  often  at  the  distance  of  many 
miles ;  yet  the  women,  who  come  from  their  towns  to  fetch  meat 
from  these  camps,  will  as  readily  find  them  as  if  they  were  con 
ducted  to  the  spot. 

I  shall  conclude  this  chapter  with  an  anecdote,  which  will  at 
once  shew  how  expressive  and  energetic  is  this  hieroglyphic 
writing  of  the  Indians.  A  white  man  in  the  Indian  country, 
met l  a  Shawanos  riding  a  horse  which  he  recognised  for  his 
own,  and  claimed  it  from  him  as  his  property.  The  Indian 
calmly  answered;  "  Friend !  after  a  little  while,  I  will  call  on  you 
at  your  house,  when  we  shall  talk  of  this  matter."  A  few  days2 
afterwards,  the  Indian  came  to  the  white  man's  house,  who  in 
sisting  on  having  his  horse  restored,  the  other  then  told  him  : 
"  Friend  !  the  horse  which  you  claim  belonged  to  my  uncle  who 
lately  died ;  according  to  the  Indian  custom,  I  have  become  heir 
to  all  his  property."  The  white  man  not  being  satisfied,  and 
renewing  his  demand,  the  Indian  immediately  took  a  coal  from 
the  fire-place,  and  made  two  striking  figures  on  the  door'pf  the 
house,  the  one  representing  the  white  man  taking  the  horse, 
and  the  other,  himself,  in  the  act  of  scalping  him ;  then  he 
coolly  asked  the  trembling  claimant  "whether  he  could  read 
this  Indian  writing?"  The  matter  thus, was  settled  at  once, 
and  the  Indian  rode  off. 

1  For  "  met "  read  "  saw."  2  For  "  days  "  read  "  hottrs." 


CHAPTER   XL 

ORATORY. 

|HE  eloquence  of  the  Indians  is  natural  and  simple; 
they  speak  what  their  feelings  dictate  without  art  and 
without  rule ;  their  speeches  are  forcible  and  impres 
sive,  their  arguments  few  and  pointed,  and  when  they 
mean  to  persuade  as  well  as  convince,  they  take  the  shortest 
way  to  reach  the  heart.  I  know  that  their  oratorical  powers 
have  been  strongly  controverted,  and  this  is  not  astonishing, 
when  we  consider  the  prejudice  that  exists  against  their  lan 
guages,  which  are  in  general  believed  to  be  poor,  and  inadequate 
to  the  expression  of  any  but  the  most  common  ideas.  Hence 
all  the  specimens  that  have  been  given  to  the  world  of  their 
oratory  have  been  viewed  with  a  suspicious  eye ;  the  celebrated 
speech  of  Logan,  authenticated  as  it  is  by  the  respectable  au 
thority  of  Col.  John  Gibson,  has  been  denied  to  be  genuine  even 
in  this  country.  For  my  part,  I  am  convinced  that  it  was  de 
livered  precisely  as  it  is  related  to  us,  with  this  only  difference, 
that  it  possessed  a  force  and  expression  in  the  Indian  language 
which  it  is  impossible  to  transmit  into  our  own. 

I  hope  the  exertions  and  researches  of  the  Historical  Com 
mittee  will  make  the  character  and  genius  of  the  Indian  lan 
guages  better  known  than  they  have  hitherto  been.  The  world 
will  then  be  better  able  to  judge  of  their  extent  and  powers,  and 
to  decide  whether  or  not  they  are  adequate  to  the  purposes  of 
oratory.  In  the  meantime,  I  shall  content  myself  with  present 
ing  another  specimen  of  Indian  eloquence ;  one  which  I  did  not 
receive  at  second  hand,  but  at  the  delivery  of  which  I  was 
present  in  person.  The  translation  which  I  offer  will  give  but  a 

132 


ORATORY.  133 

faint  idea  of  the  strength  and  spirit  of  the  original ;  I  vouch, 
however,  for  its  being  as  correct  as  it  has  been  in  my  power  to 
make  it. 

This  speech  was  spoken  at  Detroit,1  on  the  frontier  of  Canada, 
on  the  Qth  of  December,2  1801,  by  Captain  Pipe,3  a  chief  of  the 
Delaware  nation,  and  was  addressed  to  the  commanding  officer 
of  that  post,  then  in  possession  of  the  British.  The  Delawares, 
it  will  be  recollected,  had  been  the  stedfast  friends  of  the  French, 
in  the  war  of  1756.  The  peace  which  was  concluded  in  1763, 
between  the  two  great  nations  who  then  contended  for  the 
supremacy  of  this  continent,  was  not  for  several  years  regarded 
by  the  Indians,  and  they  continued  their  hostilities  against  the 
subjects  and  government  of  Great  Britain.  They  were  obliged, 
however,  to  submit  to  superior  force ;  not  without  hopes  that 
their  father,  the  king  of  France,  would  soon  send  over  a  powerful 
army  to  retake  Canada.  They  were  in  this  situation  when  the 
war  of  the  revolution  broke  out.  It  is  well  known  that  it  was  a 
part  of  the  system  of  the  British  administration  to  employ  the 
savages  to  subdue  those  whom  they  called  their  revolted  sub 
jects.  The  Delawares,  in  general,  as  I  have  before  related, 
having  in  vain  endeavoured  to  remain  neutral,  took  part  with 
the  Americans.  Captain  Pipe,  however,  with  a  party  of  the 
Wolf  tribe,  joined  the  English  in  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and 

1  Loskiel,  part  III.,  ch.  9. 

2  For  "  December"  read  "  November" 

3  [Pipe,  a  leader  of  the  Wolf  tribe   of  the  Monkey?,  was  residing  in   the  Ohio 
country  at  the  time  of  Bouquet's  expedition  against  the  Delawares  and  Shawanon  of 
the  Muskingum  and  Scioto,  in  1764.     When  the  Moravians  entered  the  valley  of  the 
former  river,  he  was  at  home  on  the  Walhonding,  about  15  miles  above  the  present 
Coshocton.     In  the  border  wars  of  the  Revolution,  he  at  first  declared  against  the 
Americans,  withdrawing  with  the  disaffected  Delawares  to  the  Tymochtee  creek,  a 
branch  of  the  Sandusky,  within  the  limits  of  the  present  Crawford  County.    While 
here,  he  was  a  serviceable  tool  in  the  hands  of  the  British  at  Detroit.     To  the  Mo 
ravian  mission  among  his  countrymen  he  was  for  many  years  unjustifiedly  hostile. 
Eventually,  however,  he  regarded  the  work  apparently  with  favor.     It  was  the  Pipe 
who  doomed  Col.  William  Crawford  to  torture,  after  the  failure  of  the  latter's  expe 
dition  against  Sandusky  in  the  summer  of  1782.     After  the  treaty  of  Fort  Harmar  in 
January  of  1789,  Pipe  threw  all  his  influence  on  the  side  of  those  of  his  people  who 
now  resolved  at  all  hazards  to  uphold  peace  with  the  United  States.     He  died  a  few 
days  before  the  defeat  of  the  confederated  Indians  by  Wayne,  near  the  rapids  of  the 
Maumee.] 


154 


ORATORY. 


soon  after  repented  it.  But  it  was  too  late.  He  was  now 
reluctantly  compelled  to  go  out  against  the  Americans  with  the 
men  under  his  command.  On  his  return  from  one  of  those 
expeditions,  he  went  to  make  his  report  to  the  British  command 
ant  at  Detroit,1  by  whom  he  was  received  in  state  at  the  council 
house,  in  the  presence  of  a  great  number  of  Indians,  British 
officers  and  others.  There  were  several  Missionaries  present, 
among  which  I  was.  The  chief  was  seated  in  front  of  his  In 
dians,  facing  the  commandant.  He  held  in  his  left  hand  an 
human  scalp  tied  to  a  short  stick.  After  a  pause  of  some 
minutes  he  rose,  and  addressing  the  governor,  delivered  the 
following  speech : 

"  FATHER  !  "  (Here  the  orator  stopped,  and  turning  round 
to  the  audience,  with  a  face  full  of  meaning,  and  a  sarcastic  look, 
which  I  should  in  vain  attempt  to  describe,  he  went  on  in  a  lower 
tone  of  voice,  as  addressing  himself  to  them;)  —  "I  have  said 
father,  although,  indeed,  I  do  not  know  why  I  am  to  call  him 
so,  having  never  known  any  other  father  than  the  French,  and 
considering  the  English  only  as  brothers.  But  as  this  name  is 
also  imposed  upon  us,  I  shall  make  use  of  it  and  say :  (Here  he 
fixed  his  eyes  on  the  commandant.) 

"FATHER!  Some  time  ago  you  put  a  war  hatchet  into  my 
hands,  saying:  Take  this  weapon  and  try  it  on  the  heads  of  my 
enemies  the  long  knives,  and  let  me  afterwards  know  if  it  was 
sharp  and  good. 

"  FATHER  !  At  the  time  when  you  gave  me  this  weapon,  I  had 
neither  cause  nor  inclination  to  go  to  war  against  a  people  who 
had  done  me  no  injury;  yet  in  obedience  to  you,  who  say  you 
are  my  father  and  call  me  your  child,  I  received  the  hatchet ; 
well  knowing  that  if  I  did  not  obey,  you  would  withhold  from 
me2  the  necessaries  of  life,  without  which  I  could  not  subsist, 
and  which  are  not  elsewhere  to  be  procured  but  at  the  house  of 
my  father. 

"  FATHER  !  You  may,  perhaps,  think  me  a  fool,  for   risking 

1  See  Loskiel,  part  III.,  ch.  9,  p.  704,  German  text,  and  p.  165,  Eng.  Trans. 

2  It  will  be  understood  that  he  speaks  here  throughout  for  himself  and  his  nation 
or  tribe,  though  always  in  the  first  person  of  the  singular,  according  to  the  Indian 
mode. 


ORATORY.  135 

my  life  at  your  bidding,  in  a  cause,  too,  by  which  I  have  no 
prospect  of  gaining  anything ;  for  it  is  your  cause  and  not  mine. 
It  is  your  concern  to  fight  the  long  knives;  you  have  raised  a 
quarrel  amongst  yourselves,  and  you  ought  yourselves  to  fight  it 
out.  You  should  not  compel  your  children,  the  Indians,  to 
expose  themselves  to  danger  for  your  sakes. 

"  FATHER  !  Many  lives  have  already  been  lost  on  your  account ' 
— Nations  have  suffered  and  been  weakened  !  —  Children  have 
lost  parents,  brothers  and  relatives !  —  Wives  have  lost  hus 
bands  !  —  It  is  not  known  how  many  more  may  perish  before 
your  war  will  be  at  an  end  ! 

"FATHER  !  I  have  said  that  you  may,  perhaps,  think  me  a  fool, 
for  thus  thoughtlessly  rushing  on  your  enemy  !  —  Do  not  believe 
this,  Father  !  Think  not  that  I  want  sense  to  convince  me,  that 
although  you  now  pretend  to  keep  up  a  perpetual  enmity  to  the 
long  knives,  you  may,  before  long,  conclude  a  peace  with  them. 

"  FATHER  !  You  say  you  love  your  children,  the  Indians. — 
This  you  have  often  told  them ;  and  indeed  it  is  your  interest  to 
say  so  to  them,  that  you  may  have  them  at  your  service. 

"  But,  FATHER  !  who  of  us  can  believe  that  you  can  love 
a  people  of  a  different  colour  from  your  own,  better  than  those 
who  have  a  white  skin,  like  yourselves  ? 

"  FATHER  !  Pay  attention  to  what  I  am  going  to  say.  While 
you,  Father,  are  setting  me  *  on  your  enemy,  much  in  the  same 
manner  as  a  hunter  sets  his  dog  on  the  game ;  while  I  am  in  the 
act  of  rushing  on  that  enemy  of  yours,  with  the  bloody  destruc 
tive  weapon  you  gave  me,  I  may,  perchance,  happen  to  look  back 
to  the  place  from  whence  you  started  me,  and  what  shall  I  see  ? 
Perhaps,  I  may  see  my  father  shaking  hands  with  \.}\G  long  knives  ; 
yes,  with  those  very  people  he  now  calls  his  enemies.  I  may, 
then,  see  him  laugh  at  my  folly  for  having  obeyed  his  orders ; 
and  yet  I  am  now  risking  my  life  at  his  command !  Father ! 
keep  what  I  have  said  in  remembrance. 

"  Now,  FATHER  !  here  is  what  has  been  done  with  the  hatchet 
you  gave  me."  (Handing  the  stick  with  the  scalp  on  it.)  "  I  have 
done  with  the  hatchet  what  you  ordered  me  to  do,  and  found  it 
sharp.  Nevertheless,  I  did  not  do  all  that  I  might  have  done. 

1  Meaning  his  nation,  and  speaking,  as  usual,  in  the  first  person. 


136  ORATORY. 

No,  I  did  not  My  heart  failed  within  me.  I  felt  compassion 
for  your  enemy.  Innocence l  had  no  part  in  your  quarrels  ;  there 
fore  I  distinguished — I  spared.  I  took  some  live  flesh?  which, 
while  I  was  bringing  to  you,  I  spied  one  of  your  large  canoes,  on 
which  I  put  it  for  you.  In  a  few  days  you  will  receive  thisfas/i. 
and  find  that  the  skin  is  of  the  same  colour  with  your  own. 

"  FATHER  !  I  hope  you  will  not  destroy  what*  I  have  saved. 
You,  Father !  have  the  means  of  preserving  that  which  with  me 
would  perish  for  want.  The  warrior  is  poor  and  his  cabin 
is  always  empty ;  but  your  house,  father !  is  always  full." 

Here  we  see  boldness,  frankness,  dignity,  and  humanity  hap 
pily  blended  together  and  most  eloquently  displayed.  I  am 
much  mistaken  if  the  component  parts  of  this  discourse  are  not 
put  together  much  according  to  the  rules  of  oratory  which  are 
taught  in  the  schools,  and  which  were  certainly  unknown  to  this 
savage.  The  peroration  at  the  end  is  short,  but  truly  pathetic, 
and  I  would  even  say,  sublime ;  and  then  the  admirable  way  in 
which  it  is  prepared  !  I  wish  I  could  convey  to  the  reader's 
mind  only  a  small  part  of  the  impression  which  this  speech 
made  on  me  and  on  all  present  when  it  was  delivered. 

It  is  but  justice  here  to  say,  that  Capt.  Pipe  was  well  ac 
quainted  with  the  noble  and  generous  character  of  the  British 
officer  to  whom  this  speech  was  addressed.  He  is  still  living  in 
his  own  country,  an  honour  to  the  British  name.  He  obeyed 
the  orders  of  his  superiors  in  employing  the  Indians  to  fight 
against  us,  but  he  did  it  with  reluctance  and  softened  as  much  as 
was  in  his  power  the  horrors  of  that  abominable  warfare.  He 
esteemed  Captain  Pipe,  and  I  have  no  doubt,  was  well  pleased 
with  the  humane  conduct  of  this  Indian  chief,  whose  sagacity  in 
this  instance  is  no  less  deserving  of  praise  than  his  eloquence. 
It  is  thus  that  great  minds  understand  each  other,  and  even 
in  the  most  difficult  and  trying  situations,  find  the  means  of 
making  the  cause  of  humanity  triumph. 

1  Meaning  women  and  children.  2  Prisoners. 

8  To  make  his  language  agree  with  the  expression  live  flesh. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

METAPHORICAL  EXPRESSIONS. 

[HE  Indians  are  fond  of  metaphors.  They  are  to  their 
discourse  what  feathers  and  beads  are  to  their  per 
sons,  a  gaudy  but  tasteless  ornament.  Yet  we  must 
not  judge  them  too  severely  on  that  account.  There 
are  other  nations  besides  the  American  Indians  who  admire 
this  mode  of  expression.  Even  in  enlightened  Europe,  many 
centuries  have  not  elapsed  since  the  best  and  most  celebrated 
writers  employed  this  figure  in  a  profuse  manner,  and  thought  it 
a  great  embellishment  to  their  poetical  and  prose  compositions ; 
the  immortal  Shakspeare,  himself,  did  not  disdain  it. 

The  following  examples  will  be  sufficient  to  give  an  idea  of 
the  metaphorical  language  of  the  Indians. 

1.  "  The  sky  is  overcast  with  dark  blustering  clouds." — We  shall 
have  troublesome  times;  we  shall  have  war. 

2.  "A  black  cloud  has  arisen  yonder" — War  is  threatened  from 
that  quarter,  or  from  that  nation. 

3.  "Two  black  clouds  are  drawing  toivards  each  other" — Two 
powerful  enemies  are  in  march  against  each  other ! 

4.  "The  path   is  already  shut  up!" — Hostilities   have    com 
menced.     The  war  is  begun. 

5.  "  The  rivers  run  with  blood!" — War  rages  in  the  country. 

6.  "  To  bury  the  hatchet" — To  make,  or  conclude  a  peace. 

7.  "To  lay  down  t/ie  hatchet,  or  to  slip  the  hatcliet  under  the  bed 
stead" — To   cease  fighting  for  a  while,  during  a  truce;  or,  to 
place  the  hatchet  at  hand,  so  that  it  may  be  taken  up  again  at  a 
moment's  warning. 


138  METAPHORICAL    EXPRESSIONS. 

8.  "  The  hatchet  you  gave  me  to  strike  your  enemies,  proved  to  be 
very  dull,  or  not  to  be  sharp  ;  my  arm  was  wearied  to  little  pur 
pose  !  " — You  supplied  me  so  scantily  with  the  articles  I  stood  in 
need  of,  that  I  wanted  strength  to  execute  your  orders.     The 
presents    you    gave    me    were    not   sufficient  for   the  task  you 
imposed  upon  me,  therefore  I  did  little ! 

9.  "  The  hatchet  you  gave  me  was  very  sharp/" — As  you  have 
satisfied  me,  I  have  done  the  same  for  you ;  I  have  killed  many 
of  your  enemies. 

10.  "  You  did  not  make  me  strong!  " — You  gave  me  nothing,  or 
but  little. 

xli.  "Make  me  very  strong!"-  — Give  me  much,  pay  me  well ! 

\2~**The  stronger  you  make  me,  the  more  you  vvill  see  !" — The 
— more  you  give  me,  the  more  I  will  do  for  you  ! 

___i  3 .  "/  did  as  you  bid  me,  but  SEE  nothing !  " — I  have  performed 
my  part,  but  you  have  not  rewarded  me ;  or,  I  did  my  part  for 
you,  but  you  have  not  kept  your  word ! 

14.  "You  have  spoken  with  your  lips  only,  not  from  the  heart!" 
— You  endeavour  to  deceive  me  ;  you  do  not  intend  to  do  as 
you  say  ! 

15.  "You  now  speak  from  the  heart!" — Now  you  mean  what 
you  say  ! 

1 6.  "  You  keep  me  in  the  dark!" — You  wish  to  deceive  me  ;  you 
conceal  your  intentions  from  me ;    you  keep  me  in  ignorance ! 

17.  "  You  stopped  my  ears!  " — You  kept  the  thing  a  secret  from 
me ;  you  did  not  wish  me  to  know  it ! 

1 8.  "Now  I  believe  you  !  "-  —  Done  !  agreed  !     It  shall  be  so  ! 

19.  "Your  words  have  penetrated  into  my  heart!" — I  consent! 
am  pleased  with  what  you  say  ! 

20.  "You  have  spoken  good  words  !"--\  am  pleased,  delighted 
with  what  you  have  said  ! 

21.  "You  have  spoken  the  truth!" — I  am  satisfied  with  what 
you  have  said ! 

22.  "Singing  birds  !  "—Tale  bearers  —  story  tellers  —  liars. 

23.  "Don't  listen  to  the  singing  of  the  birds  which  fly  by  !"  — 
Don't  believe  what  stragglers  tell  you  ! 

24.  "  What  bird  was  it  that  sung  that  song  ?  "—Who  was  it  that 
told  that  story,  that  lie  ? 


METAPHORICAL    EXPRESSIONS.  139 

25.  (To  a  chief,)  "Have  you  heard  the  news?" — Have   you 
been  officially  informed  ? 

26.  "I have  not  heard  anything!" — I  have  no  official  informa 
tion. 

27.  "To  kindle  a  council  fire  at  such  a  place" — To  appoint  a 
place  where  the  national  business  is  to  be  transacted ;  to  estab 
lish  the  seat  of  government  there. 

28.  "  To  remove  the  council  fire  to  another  placed — To  establish 
another  place  for  the  seat  of  government. 

29.  "  The  council  fire  has  been  extinguished" —  Blood  has  been 
shed  by  an  enemy  at  the  seat  of  government,  which  has  put  the 
fire  out ;  the  place  has  been  polluted. 

30.  "Don't  look  the  other  way/"  —  Don't  lean  to   that  side; 
don't  join  with  those  ! 

31.  "Look  this  way  !" — Join  us,  join  our  party. 

32.  "/  have  not  room  to  spread  my  blanket !  " —  I  am  too  much 
crowded  on. 

33.  "Not  to  have  room  enough  for  an  encampment"- -To  be  too 
much  confined  to  a  small  district ;  not  to  have  sufficient  range 
for  the  cattle  to  feed  on,  or  sufficient  hunting  ground. 

34.  "I  will  place  you  under  my  wings  !" — .(meaning  under  my 
arm  pits)  I  will  protect  you  at  all  hazards !     You  shall  be  per 
fectly  safe,  nobody  shall  molest  you ! 

35-  "Suffer  no  grass  to  grow  on  the  war  path  !  " —  Carry  on  the 
war  with  vigor  ! 

36.  "Never  suffer  grass  to  grow  on  this  war  path!"  —  Be  at 
perpetual  war  with  the  nation  this  path  leads  to ;  never  con 
clude  a  peace  with  them. 

37.  "  To  open  a  path  from  one  nation  to  another,  by  removing  the 
logs,  brush  and  briars  out  of  the  way'' — To  invite  the  nation  to 
which  the  path  leads,  to  a  friendly  intercourse ;  to  prepare  the 
way  to  live  on  friendly  terms  with  them. 

38.  "  The  path  to  that  nation  is  again  open!" — We  are  again 
on  friendly  terms ;  the  path  may  again  be  travelled  with  safety. 

39.  "/  hear  sighing  and  sobbing  in  yonder  direction  !  " —  I  think 
that  a  chief  of  a  neighbouring  nation  has  died. 

40.  "/  draw  the  thorns  out  of  your  feet  and  legs,  grease  your 
stiffened  joints  with  oil,  and  ivipe  the  sweat  off  your  body  /  " —  I 


I4O  METAPHORICAL    EXPRESSIONS. 

make  you  feel  comfortable   after  your  fatiguing  journey,  that 
you  may  enjoy  yourself  while  with  us. 

41.  "7  wipe  the  tears  from  your  eyes,  cleanse  your  cars,  and  place 
your  aching  heart,  which  bears  $ou  down  to  one  side,  in  its  proper 
position  /  "  —  I    condole  with    you  ;   dispel   all    sorrow  !  prepare 
yourself  for  business !    (N.  B.  This  is  said  when  condoling  with 
a  nation  on  the  death  of  a  chief.) 

42.  "7  have  discovered  tJie  cause  of  your  grief !  " —  I  have  seen 
the  grave  (where  the  chief  was  buried.) 

43.  "7  have  covered  yon  spot  with1  fresh  earth  ;  I  have  raked 
leaves,  and  planted  trees  thereon!" — means  literally,  I  have  hidden 
the  grave  from  your  eyes ;  and  figuratively,  "  you  must  now  be 
cheerful  again !  " 

44.  "I  lift  you  up  from  this  place,  and  set  you  down  again  at  my 
dwelling  place  /" — I  invite  you  to  arise  from  hence,  and  come 
and  live  where  I  live. 

45.  "7  am  much  too  heavy  to  rise  at  this  present  time  !  " —  I  have 
too  much  property !  (corn,  vegetables,  &c.) 

^  46.  "I  will  pass  one  niglit  yet  at  this  place" — I  will  stay  one 
year-yet  at  this  place. 

47.  "  We  have  concluded  a  peace,  which  is  to  last  as  long  as  the 
sun  shall  shine,  and  the  rivers  flow  with  water  /  " —  The  peace  we 
have  made  is  to  continue  as  long  as  the  world  stands,  or  to  the 
end  of  time. 

48.  "  To  bury  the  hatchet  beneath  the  root  of  a  tree" —  To  put  it 
quite  out  of  sight. 

49.  "  To  bury  deep  in  the  earth"  (an  injury  done)  —  To  consign 
it  to  oblivion. 

^or  "-with"  read  "<?/." 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

INDIAN   NAMES. 


(HE  proper  names  of  Indians  are  in  general  given  to 
them  after  animals  of  various  kinds,  and  even  fishes 
and  reptiles.  Thus  they  are  called  the  Beaver,  Otter \ 
Sun  -fisli,  Black-fish ,  Rattle-snake,  Black-snake,  &c.  Th ey 
have  also  other  descriptive  names,  from  their  personal  qualities 
or  appearances,  and  sometimes  from  fancy  or  caprice ;  but  many 
of  those  are  given  them  by  the  whites,  such  as  Pipe,  White-eyes, 
Kill-buck,  &c.,  which  are  not  real  Indian  names.  They  do  not 
always  preserve  the  names  first  given  to  them,  but  often  assume 
a  new  one  after  they  have  come  to  man's  estate. 

Indians,  who  have  particularly  distinguished  themselves  by 
their  conduct,  or  by  some  meritorious  act,  or  who  have  been  the 
subjects  of  some  remarkable  occurrence,  have  names  given  to 
them  in  allusion  to  those  circumstances.  Thus,  I  have  known 
a  man  whose  name  would  signify  in  our  language  the  beloved 
lover,  and  one  who  was  named  Met  by  love.  Another,  a  great 
warrior,  who  had  been  impatiently  waiting  for  day-light  to 
engage  the  enemy,  was  afterwards  called  Cause  day-light,  or 
Make  day-light  appear.  So,  one  who  had  come  in  with  a  heavy 
load  of  turkies  on  his  back,  was  called  The  Carrier  of  Turkies, 
and  another  whose  shoes  were  generally  torn  or  patched,  was 
called  Bad  Shoes.  All  those  names  are  generally  expressed  in 
one  single  word,  in  compounding  which  the  Indians  are  very 
ingenious.  Thus,  the  name  they  had  for  the  place  where  Phila 
delphia  now  stands,  and  which  they  have  preserved  notwith- 

141 


142  INDIAN    NAMES. 

standing  the  great  change  which  has  taken  place,  is  Kuequendku? 
which  means,  The  grove  of  the  long  pine  trees. 

They  have  proper  names,  not  only  for  all  towns,  villages, 
mountains,  valleys,  rivers,  and  streams,  but  for  all  remarkable 
spots,  as  for  instance,  those  which  are  particularly  infested  with 
gnats  or  musquitoes,  where  snakes  have  their  dens,  &c.  Those 
names  always  contain  an  allusion  to  such  particular  circum 
stance,  so  that  foreigners,  even  though  acquainted  with  their 
language,  will  often  be  at  a  loss  to  understand  their  discourse. 

To  strangers,  white  men  for  instance,  they  will  give  names 
derived  from  some  remarkable  quality  which  they  have  ob 
served  in  them,  or  from  some  circumstance  which  remarkably 
strikes  them.  When  they  were  told  the  meaning  of  the  name 
of  William  Penn,  they  translated  it  into  their  own  language  by 
Miqnon,  which  means  a  feather  or  quill.  The  Iroquois  call  him 
Onas,  which  in  their  idiom  means  the  same  thing. 

The  first  name  given  by  the  Indians  to  the  Europeans  who 
landed  in  Virginia  was  Wapsid  Lenape  (white  people ;)  when, 
however,  afterwards  they  began  to  commit  murders  on  the  red 
men,  whom  they  pierced  with  swords,  they  gave  to  the  Virgin 
ians  the  name  Mechanschicant  (long  knives,)  to  distinguish  them 
from  others  of  the  same  colour. 

In  New  England,  they  at  first  endeavoured  to  imitate  the 
sound  of  the  national  name  of  the  English,  which  they  pro 
nounced  Yengees.  They  also  called  them  Chauquaquock,  (men 
of  knives)  for  having  imported  those  instruments  into  the 
country,  which  they  gave  in  presents  to  the  natives.2  They 
thought  them  better  men  than  the  Virginians  ;  but  when  they 
were  afterwards  cruelly  treated  by  them,  and  their  men  shipped 
off  to  sea,  the  Mohicans  of  that  country  called  them  Tschach- 
goos ;  and  when  next  the  people  of  the  middle  colonies  began 
to  murder  them,  and  called  on  the  Iroquois  to  insult  them  and 
assist  in  depriving  them  of  their  lands,  they  then  dropped  that 
name,  and  called  the  whites  by  way  of  derision,  Schwannack^ 
which  signifies  salt  beings,  or  bitter  beings ;  for  in  their  lan- 

1  According  to  the  powers  of  the  English  alphabet,  it  should  be  written  Koo-ek- 
wen-aw-koo. 

2  Rogers's  Key  into  the  Language  of  the  Indians  of  New  England,  ch.  vi. 


INDIAN    NAMES.  143 

guage  the  word  Schwan,  is  in  general  applied  to  things  that 
have  a  salt,  sharp,  bitter,  or  sour  taste.  The  object  of  this 
name,  as  well  as  of  that  which  the  Mohicans  gave  to  the  east 
ern  people,  was  to  express  contempt  as  well  as  hatred  or  dis 
like,  and  to  hold  out  the  white  inhabitants  of  the  country  as 
hateful  and  despicable  beings.  I  have,  however,  in  many  in 
stances  observed  that  the  Indians  are  careful  not  to  apply  this 
opprobrious  name  to  any  white  person  whom  they  know  to  be 
amicably  disposed  towards  them,  and  whom  they  are  sure  to  be 
a  good,  honest,  well-meaning  man.  I  have  heard  them  charge 
their  children  not  to  call  a  particular  white  man  Schwannack, 
but  Friend.  This  name  was  first  introduced  about  the  year  1730. 
They  never  apply  it  to  the  Quakers,  whom  they  greatly  love  and 
respect  since  the  first  arrival  of  William  Penn  into  the  country. 
They  call  them  Qucekels,  not  having  in  their  language  the  sound 
expressed  by  our  letter  R.  They  say  they  have  always  found 
them  good,  honest,  affable  and  peaceable  men,  and  never  have 
had  reason  to  complain  of  them. 

These  were  the  names  which  the  Indians  gave  to  the  whites, 
until  the  middle  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  when  they  were 
reduced  to  the  following  three  : 

1.  MeclianscJiican  or  Chanschican  (long  knives).     This  they  no 
longer  applied  to  the  Virginians  exclusively,  but  also  to  those 
of  the  people  of  the  middle  states,  whom  they  considered   as 
hostilely  inclined    towards    them,  particularly  those  who  wore 
swords,  dirks,  or  knives  at  their  sides. 

2.  Yengees.  This    name  they  now  exclusively  applied  to  the 
people  of  New  England,  who,  indeed,  appeared  to  have  adopted 
it,  and  were,  as  they  still  are,  generally  through  the    country 
called  Yankees,  which  is  evidently  the  same  name  with  a  trifling 
alteration.     They  say  they  know  the  Yengees,  and  can  distinguish 
them    by  their  dress  and    personal  appearance,  and  that  they 
were  considered  as  less  cruel  than  the  Virginians  or  long  knives. 
The  proper  English  they1  call  Saggenash. 

3.  'Qucekels.    They  do  not  now  apply  this  name  exclusively 
to  the  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  but  to  all  the  white 

1  For  "  they  "  read  "  the  Chifpeiuays  and  some  other  nations" 


144  INDIAN    NAMES. 

people  whom  they  love  or  respect,  and  whom  they  believe  to 
have  good  intentions  towards  them. 

Not  only  the  Delawares,  but  all  the  nations  round  them, 
make  use  of  these  names,  and  with  the  same  relative  application. 
I  have  myself,  in  1782,  while  at  Detroit,  witnessed  the  Chippe- 
\vays,  who  on  meeting  an  American  prisoner,  who  was  walking 
about,  called  out  Messamochkemaan  (long  knife),  though  he  had 
no  knife,  sword,  or  dirk  at  his  side.  I  was  one  day  about  the 
same  time  hailed  in  that  manner  as  I  was  walking  up  the  river, 
and  apprehending  that  I  might  be  seized  as  a  runaway  prisoner, 
I  immediately  answered:  Kau!  Saggenash ;  No!  an  English 
man  ;  and  they  passed  on.  I  might  with  great  propriety  make 
this  answer,  as  I  was  born  in  England. 

In  the  year  1808,  while  I  was  riding  with  a  number  of  gentle 
men  through  Greentown l  (an  Indian  town  in  the  State  of  Ohio), 
I  heard  an  Indian  in  his  house,  who  through  a  crevice  saw 
us  passing,  say  in  his  language  to  his  family:  "See!  what  a 
number  of  people  are  coming  along! — What!  and  among  all 
these  not  one  long  knife  !  All  Yengees /"  Then,  probably  ob 
serving  me,  he  said  correcting  himself,  "  No  !  one  Quakel" 

Such  are  the  observations  which  the  Indians  make  on  the 
white  people,  and  the  names  which  they  give  to  them.  They 
may  sometimes  be  in  the  wrong ;  but,  as  they  make  it  their  par 
ticular  study  to  become  acquainted  with  the  actions,  motions, 
deportment,  and  dress  of  the  different  nations,  they  seldom  com 
mit  mistakes,  and  in  general,  they  apply  their  different  names 
precisely  to  those  whom  they  are  meant  to  designate  or  describe. 

1  [In  Green  township,  in  what  is  now  Ashland  County.] 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

INTERCOURSE  WITH  EACH  OTHER. 

|T  is  a  striking  fact,  that  the  Indians,  in  their  uncivil 
ised  state,  should  so  behave  towards  each  other  as 
though  they  were  a  civilised  people!  I  ha,ve  in 
numerous  instances  witnessed  their  meeting  together, 
their  doing  business  and  conversing  with  each  other  for  hours, 
their  labouring  together,  and  their  hunting  and  fishing  in  bodies 
or  parties  ;  I  have  seen  them  divide  their  game,  venison,  bear's 
meat,  fish,  &c.,  among  themselves,  when  they  sometimes  had 
many  shares  to  make,  and  cannot  recollect  a  .single  instance  of 
their  falling  into  a  dispute  or  finding  fault  with  the  distribution, 
as  being  unequal,  or  otherwise  objectionable.  On  the  contrary, 
on  such  occasions  they  even  receive  what  is  allotted  to  them 
with  thanks;  they  say  "  anise  hi"  I  am  thankful  !  as  if  it  was  a 
present  given  to  them. 

They  certainly  (I  am  here  speaking  of  the  men)  show  a  rever 
ence  for  each  other,  which  is  visible  on  all  occasions ;  they  often 
meet  for  the  purpose  of  conversation,  and  their  sociability  ap 
pears  to  be  a  recreation  to  them,  a  renewal  of  good  fellowship. 
Their  general  principle,  that  good  and  bad  cannot  mingle  or 
dwell  together  in  one  heart,  and  therefore  must  not  come  into 
contact,  seems  to  be  their  guide  on  all  occasions.  So,  likewise, 
when  travelling,  whether  they  are  few,  or  many,  they  are  cheer 
ful,  and  resigned  to  the  accidents  which  may  befal  them ;  never 
impatient,  quarrelsome,  or  charging  any  one,  or  one  another, 
with  being  in  fault,  or  the  occasion  of  what  had  happened ;  even 
though  one  should  lose  his  all  by  the  neglect  or  carelessness  of 
10  145 


146  INTERCOURSE    WITH     EACH    OTHER. 

the  other,  yet  they  will  not  fly  into  a  passion,  but  patiently  bear 
with  the  loss,  thinking  within  themselves  that  such  a  one  feels 
sorry  enough  already,  and  therefore  it  would  be  unreasonable  to 
add  to  his  pain.  They  judge  with  calmness  on  all  occasions, 
and  decide  with  precision,  or  endeavour  so  to  do,  between  an 
/  accident  and  a  wilful  act ;  —  the  first  (they  say)  they  are  all  liable 
to  commit,  and  therefore  it  ought  not  to  be  noticed,  or  pun 
ished ; —  the  second  being  a  wilful  or  premeditated  act,  com 
mitted  with  a  bad  design,  ought  on  the  contrary  to  receive  due 
punishment. 

To  illustrate  this  subject,  I  shall  relate  a  few  of  the  cases  of 
this  description  which  have  come  within  my  knowledge.  One 
morning  early,  an  Indian  came  into  the  house  of  another  who 
was  yet  abed,  asking  for  the  loan  of  his  gun  for  a  morning  hunt, 
his  own  being  out  of  repair;  the  owner  readily  consented,  and 
said :  "  As  my  gun  is  not  loaded,  you  will  have  to  take  a  few 
balls  out  of  your1  pouch  !  "  In  taking  the  gun  down,  it,  how 
ever,  by  some  accident  went  off,  and  lodged  the  contents  in  the 
owner's  head,  who  was  still  lying  on  the  bed,  and  now  expired. 
The  gun,  it  appeared,  was  loaded,  though  unknown  to  him,  and 
the  lock  left  in  such  a  condition  that  by  a  touch  it  went  off.  A 
cry  was  heard  from  all  sides  in  the  house  :  O  !  the  accident !  for 
such  it  was  always  considered  to  have  been,  and  was  treated  as 
such. 

A  hunter  went  out  to  kill  a  bear,  some  of  those  animals  hav 
ing  been  seen  in  the  neighbourhood.  In  an  obscure  part  of  a 
wood,  he  saw  at  a  distance  something  black  moving,  which  he 
took  for  a  bear,  the  whole  of  the  animal  not  being  visible  to 
him ;  he  fired,  and  found  he  had  shot  a  black  horse.  Having 
discovered  the  mistake,  he  informed  the  owner  of  what  had  hap 
pened,  expressing  at  the  same  time  his  regret  that  he  was  not 
possessed  of  a  single  horse,  with  which  he  could  replace  the  one 
he  had  shot.  What !  replied  the  Indian  whose  horse  had  been 
killed,  do  you  think  I  would  accept  a  horse  from  you,  though 
you  had  one  to  give,  after  you  have  satisfied  me  that  you  killed 
mine  by  accident?  No,  indeed!  for  the  same  misfortune  might 
also  happen  to  me. 

1  For  "your"  read  "yon." 


INTERCOURSE    WITH     EACH     OTHER.  147 

An  aged  Indian  who  had  gone  out  to  shoot  a  turkey,  mistook 
a  black  hog  in  the  bushes  for  one  of  those  birds,  and  shot  him  ; 
finding  out  by  enquiry  to  whom  the  hog  belonged,  he  informed 
the  owner  of  the  mistake  he  had  made,  offering  to  pay  for  the 
hog  ;  which  the  other,  however,  not  only  would  not  accept  of,  but 
having  brought  the  meat  in,  gave  him  a  leg  of  the  animal,  because 
he  thought  that  the  unfortunate  man,  as  well  on  account  of  his 
disappointment,  in  not  feasting  on  turkey  as  he  expected  soon 
to  do  when  he  shot  the  hog,  as  for  his  honesty  in  informing  of 
what  he  had  done,  was  entitled  to  a  share  of  what  he  had  killed. 

Two  Indians  with  a  large  canoe,  going  down  the  Muskingum 
river  to  a  certain  distance,  were  accosted  by  others  going  by 
land  to  the  same  place,  who  requested  them  to  take  their  heavy 
articles,  as  kettles,  axes,  hoes,  &c.  into  their  canoe,  which  they 
freely  did,  but  unfortunately  were  shipwrecked  at  the  rocks  of 
White  Eyes's  falls  (as  the  place  is  called,)  where  the  whole  cargo 
was  lost,  and  the  men  saved  themselves  by  swimming  to  the 
shore.  The  question  being  put  and  fully  discussed,  whether 
those  men  with  the  canoe,  who  had  taken  charge  of  the  property 
of  the  others,  and  by  this  neglect  lost  the  whole,  were  not  liable 
to  pay  for  the  loss  ?  it  was  decided  in  the  negative,  on  the  fol 
lowing  grounds : 

1.  That  the  canoe  men  had  taken  the  articles  on  board,  with 
the  pleasing  hope  that  they  thereby  would  oblige  their  fellow 
men,  and  did  not  expect  any  recompense  for  that  service. 

2.  That  although  they  might  have  avoided  the  danger  and  the 
loss,  by  unloading  the  canoe  at  the  head  of  the  fall,  and  carrying 
the  cargo  by  land  below  it,  (which  was  but  a  short  distance,)  as 
was  customary,  when  the  river  was  not  in  a  proper  state  to  run 
through,   yet  that,   had   those   who  travelled  by  land  been   in 
the  place  of  those  in  the  canoe,  they  might,  like  them,  have 
attempted  to  have  run  through,  as  is  sometimes  done  with  suc 
cess,  and  been  equally  unfortunate. 

3.  That  the  canoe  men  having  had  all  their  own  property  on 
board,  which  was  all  lost  at  the  same  time,  and  was  equally 
valuable  to  them,  it  was  clear  that  they  had  expected  to  run 
safely  through,  and  could  not  have  intentionally  or  designedly 
brought  on  themselves  and  others  the   misfortune  which   had 


148  INTERCOURSE    WITH    EACH    OTHER. 

happened,  and   therefore  the    circumstance    must   be    ascribed 
entirely  to  accident. 

Such  is  the  disposition  of  the  Indians  with  regard  to  those 
who  inadvertently  meet  with  a  disaster,  whereby  others  are 
injured.  They  are  ready  to  overlook  a  fault,  and  more  disposed 
in  such  cases  to  commiserate,  than  to  punish ;  but  with  those 
who  wilfully  and  intentionally  commit  aggressions  and  injure 
others,  they  think  and  act  quite  differently;  a  malicious  person 
is  generally  despised,  and  if  he  intrudes  himself  into  good  com 
pany,  they  will,  without  saying  a  word,  steal  off  one  by  one,  and 
leave  him  alone  to  suffer  the  mortification  which  it  is  intended 
he  should  feel.  For  murderers  and  thieves  they  have  no  com 
passion,  and  punish  them  according  to  the  nature  of  their  crimes, 
if  not  publicly,  still  privately,  for  they  are  considered  as  a  nui 
sance,  and  a  disgrace  to  the  nation,  and  so  much  so  were  per 
sons  of  this  description  considered  and  despised  in  former  times 
among  the  Delawares,  before  the  white  people  came,  that  it  was 
a  rare  thing  to  hear  of  any  such  being  among  them.  This  I  have 
repeatedly  been  told,  between  the  years  I//O  and  1780,  by  In 
dians  of  that  nation;  one  of  whom,  when  a  boy,  resided  on  the 
spot  where  Philadelphia  now  stands,  when  the  first  house  was 
building  there,  and  assisted  in  furnishing  the  workmen  with  fish, 
and  caught  rabbits  for  them ;  the  other,  who  was  still  older, 
lived  with  his  parents  on  the  spot  where  afterwards  was  built 
Perth  Amboy  in  New  Jersey :  both  were  respectable  men,  highly 
esteemed  by  all  who  knew  them. 

I  do  not  believe  that  there  exists  a  people  more  attentive  to 
paying  common  civilities  to  each  other  than  the  Indians  are ; 
but  this,  from  a  want  of  understanding  their  language,  as  well 
as  their  customs  and  manners,  generally  escapes  the  notice  of 
travellers,  although  some  of  them,  better  observers  than  the  rest, 
have  touched  upon  this  subject.  In  more  than  one  hundred 
instances,  I  have  with  astonishment  and  delight  witnessed  the 
attention  paid  to  a  person  entering  the  house  of  another,  where, 
in  the  first  instance,  he  is  desired  to  seat  himself,  with  the  words, 
"  sit  down,  my  friend !  "  if  he  is  a  stranger,  or  no  relation  ;  but 
if  a  relation,  the  proper  title  is  added.  A  person  is  never  left 
standing,  there  are  seats  for  all ;  and  if  a  dozen  should  follow 


INTERCOURSE    WITH    EACH    OTHER.  149 

each  other  in  succession,  all  are  provided  with  seats,  and  the 
stranger,  if  a  white  person,  with  the  best.  The  tobacco  pouch 
next  is  handed  round  ;  it  is  the  first  treat,  as  with  us  a  glass  of 
wine  or  brandy.  Without  a  single  word  passing  between  the 
man  and  his  wife,  she  will  go  about  preparing  some  victuals  for 
the  company,  and  having  served  the  visiters,  will  retire  to  a 
neighbour's  house,  to  inform  the  family  of  the  visit  with  which 
her  husband  is  honoured,  never  grumbling  on  account  of  their 
eating  up  the  provisions,  even  if  it  were  what  she  had  cooked  for 
her  own  family,  considering  the  friendly  visit  well  worth  this 
small  trouble  and  expense. 

It  is  true,  that  among  themselves,  they  expect  the  same  atten 
tion  and  hospitality  paid  to  them  in  return ;  yet  that  is  not  tneir 
main  object,  for  I  have  seen  a  number  of  instances  in  which  a 
return  was  out  of  the  question,  where  poverty  would  not  admit 
of  it,  or  distance  of  abode  put  it  out  of  the  power  of  the  visiter 
to  return  the  same  civilities  to  his  host :  when  white  people  are 
treated  in  this  way,  with  the  best  entertainment  the  house 
affords,  they  may  be  sure  it  is  nothing  else  than  a  mark  of  re 
spect  paid  to  them,  and  that  the  attentions  they  receive  do  not 
proceed  from  any  interested  view. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

POLITICAL  MANOEUVRES. 

the  management  of  their  national  affairs,  the  Indians 
display  as  much  skill  and  dexterity,  perhaps,  as  any 
people  upon  earth.  When  a  political  message  is  sent 
to  them  from  a  neighbouring  nation,1  they  generally 
contrive,  to  send  an  answer  so  ambiguously  worded,  that  it  is 
difficult  to  come  at  their  real  meaning ;  they  conceive  this  to  be 
the  best  way  of  getting  rid  of  a  proposal  which  they  do  not  like, 
because  those  who  sent  them  the  message  are  for  some  time,  at 
least,  at  a  loss  to  comprehend  the  meaning,  and  not  knowing 
whether  the  answer  is  favourable  or  unfavourable,  their  proceed 
ings  are  necessarily  suspended  until  they  can  discover  its  true 
sense ;  in  this  manner  have  operations  been  sometimes  entirely 
prevented,  and  matters  have  remained  in  the  same  situation  that 
they  were  in  before. 

It  may  be  supposed,  perhaps,  that  such  an  artful  manner  of 
treating  each  other  might  be  thought  provoking,  and  cause  jeal 
ousies  and  disputes  among  the  different  parties ;  such  is  not, 
however,  the  case,  as  nothing  insulting  is  ever  contained  in 
those  messages  ;  and  as  offence  is  not  meant,  it  is  not  taken. 
The  Indians  consider  it  on  all  sides  as  a  kind  of  diplomatic 
proceeding,  an  exercise  which  tends  to  invigorate  the  mind, 
of  which  they  are  very  fond.  It  gives  them  opportunities  to 
reflect  and  think  deeply  on  matters  of  importance,  and  of  dis 
playing  their  genius,  when  they  have  found  or  discovered  the 

1  "  After  the  word  "  nation  "  insert  "which  they  do  not  approve  of."1' 


POLITICAL    MANOEUVRES.  151 

secret  of  an  answer  sent  to  them,  or  hit  upon  the  true  meaning 
of  an  ambiguous  message. 

At  the  time  of  the  Revolutionary  war  I  witnessed  a  curious 
scene  of  .diplomatic  manoeuvres  between  two  great  men  of  the 
Delaware  nation,  both  of  whom  had  in  their  time  signalised 
themselves  as  brave  and  courageous  men,  and  had  acquired 
the  character  of  two  great  war  chiefs.  The  war  that  I  speak 
of,  which  had  but  lately  begun,  had  made  it  necessary  for  the 
Indians  to  consult  their  present  and  future  safety.  Captain 
White  Eyes,  of  the  Turtle  tribe,  who  was  placed  at  the  head 
of  his  nation,  had  its  welfare  much  at  heart.  He  was  in  favour 
of  their  following  the  advice  given  them  by  the  American  Con 
gress,  which  was  to  remain  neutral,  and  not  to  meddle  in  the 
quarrel  between  the  Americans  and  the  parent  country.  He 
advised  his  people,  therefore,  to  remain  in  friendship  with  both 
sides,  and  not  to  take  up  arms  against  either,  as  it  might  bring 
them  into  trouble,  and  perhaps,  in  the  end,  effect  their  ruin. 

On  the  other  hand,  Captain  Pipe,  of  the  Wolf  tribe,  who  re 
sided  at  the  distance  of  fifteen  miles,  where  he  had  his  council 
fire,  was  of  a  different  opinion,  and  leaned  on  the  side  of  the 
British.  He  was  an  artful,  ambitious  man,  yet  not  deficient  in 
greatness  of  mind,  as  I  have  shewn  in  a  preceding  chapter.  But 
his  head  at  that  time  was  full  of  the  wrongs  which  the  Indians 
had  suffered  from  the  Americans,  from  their  first  coming  into 
the  country ;  his  soul  panted  for  revenge,  and  he  was  glad  to 
seize  the  opportunity  that  now  offered.  He  professed  his  readi 
ness  to  join  in  proper  measures  to  save  the  nation,  but  not  such 
measures  as  his  antagonist  proposed;  what  his  real  object  was 
he  did  not  openly  declare,  but  privately  endeavoured  to  coun 
teract  all  that  was  done  and  proposed  by  the  other.  White 
Eyes,  however,  was  a  sensible  upright  man,  and  never  was  defi 
cient  in  means  to  support  his  own  measures,  and  extricate  him 
self  from  the  snares  with  which  he  was  on  all  sides  surrounded 
by  Captain  Pipe.  Thus  they  went  on  for  upwards  of  two  years, 
Pipe  working  clandestinely,  and  keeping  his  spies  continually 
on  the  watch  upon  the  other,  while  White  Eyes  acted  openly 
and  publicly,  as  though  he  knew  nothing  of  what  was  machi 
nating  against  him. 


152  POLITICAL    MANOEUVRES. 

At  last,  a  circumstance  took  place  which  apparently  justified 
Captain  Pipe  in  the  measures  he  wished  to  pursue.  In  March 
1778,  a  number  of  white  people,  of  those  whom  we  called  Tories, 
among  whom  were  M'Kee,  Eliott,  Girty,1  and  several  others, 
having  escaped  from  Pittsburg,  told  the  Indians  wherever  they 
came,  "that  they  must  arm  and  be  off  immediately,  and  kill  all 
the  Americans  wherever  they  found  them,  for  they  had  deter 
mined  to  destroy  all  the  Indians,  and  possess  themselves  of  their 
country."  White  Eyes,  not  believing  what  these  men  said,  ad 
vised  his  people  to  remain  quiet,  for  this  report  could  not  be 
true.  Pipe,  on  the  contrary,  called  his  men  together,  and  in  a 
speech  which  he  addressed  to  them,  pronounced  every  man  an 
enemy  to  his  country  who  endeavoured  to  dissuade  them  from 
going  out  against  the  Americans,  and  said  that  all  such  ought 
to  be  put  to  death.  Captain  White  Eyes  was  not  disconcerted ; 
he  immediately  assembled  his  warriors,  and  told  them  "  that  if 
they  meant  in  earnest  to  go  out,  as  he  observed  some  of  them 
were  preparing  to  do,  they  should  not  go  without  him.  He  had 
taken  peace  measures  in  order  to  save  the  nation  from  utter 
destruction.  But  if  they  believed  that  he  was  in  the  wrong,  and 
gave  more  credit  to  vagabond  fugitives,  whom  he  knew  to  be 
such,  than  to  himself,  who  was  best  acquainted  with  the  real 
state  of  things ;  if  they  had  determined  to  follow  their  advice, 
and  go  out  against  the  Americans,  he  would  go  out  with  them ; 
he  would  lead  them  on,  place  himself  in  the  front,  and  be  the 
first  who  should  fall.  They  only  had  to  determine  on  what 
they  meant  to  do ;  for  his  own  mind  was  fully  made  up  not  to 
survive  his  nation,  and  he  would  not  spend  the  remainder  of  a 
miserable  life  in  bewailing  the  total  destruction  of  a  brave  peo 
ple,  who  deserved  a  better  fate." 

This  spirited,  and  at  the  same  time  pathetic,  speech  of  Cap 
tain  White  Eyes,  made  such  an  impression  on  the  minds  of  the 

1  [Alexander  McKee,  Matthew  Elliott,  and  Simon  Girty,  —  the  first  some  time  a 
British  agent  among  the  Indians,  the  second  with  a  captain's  commission  from  the 
commandant  at  Detroit,  the  third  as  brutal,  depraved,  and  wicked  a  wretch  as  ever 
lived, — deserted  with  a  squad  of  soldiers  from  Fort  Pitt,  in  March  of  1778.  This  trio 
of  renegade  desperadoes,  henceforth,  in  the  capacity  of  emissaries  of  the  British  at 
Detroit  (with  their  savage  allies),  wrought  untold  misery  on  the  frontiers,  even 
till  the  peace  of  1795.] 


POLITICAL    MANOEUVRES.  153 

audience,  that  they  unanimously  declared  that  they  would  obey 
his  orders,  and  listen  to  no  person  but  himself,  either  white  or 
of  their  own  colour.  Indeed,  there  was  too  much  force,  too 
much  majesty  in  this  address  to  be  resisted;  when  this  was 
reported  to  Pipe  by  his  emissaries,  he  was  absolutely  con 
founded,  and  knew  not  what  to  do.  A  few  days  afterwards,  the 
council  of  the  Delaware  nation  received  the  most  friendly  and 
flattering  messages  from  the  commandant  and  Indian  agent  at 
Pittsburg,  cautioning  them,  "  not  to  listen  to  those  worthless 
men  who  had  ran  off  from  them  in  the  night,  and  to  be  assured 
of  the  steady  friendship  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States."  Pipe  was  so  put  to  the  blush,  and  took  this  matter 
so  much  to  heart,  that  he  soon  after  threw  off  the  mask,  per 
mitted  his  men  to  go  out  and  murder  the  Americans,  and  after 
wards  went  off  with  them  to  Sandusky,  under  the  protection  of 
the  British  Government.  We  have  seen  in  a  former  chapter  that 
he  afterwards  saw  how  impolitic  his  conduct  had  been,  and  prob 
ably  wished"  to  retrace  his  steps,  but  it  was  too  late.  He  had 
suffered  himself  to  be  misled  by  his  passions,  excited  by  the 
remembrance  of  former  wrongs,  and  thus  was  betrayed  into  his 
injudicious  conduct.  Perhaps  also  his  jealousy  of  Captain  White 
Eyes,  whose  superiority  his  proud  mind  could  not  bear,  did  not 
in  a  small  degree  contribute  to  it.  Pipe  was  certainly  a  great 
man,  but  White  Eyes  was,  in  my  opinion,  t;he  greatest  of  the 
two.  I  was  present  when  he  made  the  speech  which  I  have 
related,  and  never  shall  forget  the  impression  it  made  upon  me. 
Thus  Indian  politicians  work  and  manage  matters  against 
each  other  without  newspaper  wrangles,  abuse  of  character,  per 
sonal  quarrels,  or  open  insults.  Their  ingenuity,  when  joined 
to  a  good  cause,  generally  makes  them  come  off  victorious.  In 
a  bad  cause,  on  the  contrary,  they  sure  1  to  meet  with  detection 
and  defeat,  as  Captain  Pipe,  for  his  misfortune,  sadly  experienced. 

1  For  "  they  sure  "  read  "  they  are  sure." 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

MARRIAGE   AND   TREATMENT   OF   THEIR  WIVES. 


are  many  persons  who  believe,  from  the  labour 
that  they  see  the  Indian  women  perform,  that  they 
are  in  a  manner  treated  as  slaves.  These  labours, 
indeed,  are  hard,  compared  with  the  tasks  that  are  im 
posed  upon  females  in  civilised  society  ;  but  they  are  no  more 
than  their  fair  share,  under  every  consideration  and  due  allowance, 
of  the  hardships  attendant  on  savage  life.  Therefore  they  are  not 
only  voluntarily,  but  cheerfully  submitted  to  ;  and  as  women  are 
not  obliged  to  live  with  their  husbands  any  longer  than  suits 
their  pleasure  or  convenience,  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  they 
would  submit  to  be  loaded  with  unjust  or  unequal  burdens. 

Marriages  among  the  Indians  are  not,  as  with  us,  contracted 
for  life  ;  it  is  understood  on  both  sides  that  the  parties  are  not  to 
live  together  any  longer  than  they  shall  be  pleased  with  each 
other.  The  husband  may  put  away  his  wife  whenever  he 
pleases,  and  the  woman  may  in  like  manner  abandon  her  hus 
band.  Therefore  the  connexion  is  not  attended  with  any  vows, 
promises,  or  ceremonies  of  any  kind.  An  Indian  takes  a  wife  as 
it  were  on  trial,  determined,  however,  in  his  own  mind  not  to 
forsake  her  if  she  behaves  well,  and  particularly  if  he  has 
children  by  her.  The  woman,  sensible  of  this,  does  on  her 
part  every  thing  in  her  power  to  please  her  husband,  particu 
larly  if  he  is  a  good  hunter  or  trapper,  capable  of  maintaining 
her  by  his  skill  and  industry,  and  protecting  her  by  his  strength 
and  courage. 

When  a  marriage  takes  place,  the  duties  and  labours  incum- 


MARRIAGE    AND    TREATMENT    OF    THEIR    WIVES.      I$5 

bent  on  each  party  are  well  known  to  both.  It  is  understood 
that  the  husband  is  to  build  a  house  for  them  to  dwell  in,  to  find 
the  necessary  implements  of  husbandry,  as  axes,  hoes,  &c.,  to 
provide  a  canoe,  and  also  dishes,  bowls,  and  other  necessary 
vessels  for  house-keeping.  The  woman  generally  has  a  kettle  or 
two,  and  some  other  articles  of  kitchen  furniture,  which  she 
brings  with  her.  The  husband,  as  master  of  the  family,  con 
siders  himself  bound  to  support  it  by  his  bodily  exertions,  as 
hunting,  trapping,  &c. ;  the  woman,  as  his  help-mate,  takes  upon 
herself  the  labours  of  the  field,  and  is  far  from  considering  them 
as  more  important  than  those  to  which  her  husband  is  subjected, 
being  well  satisfied  that  with  his  gun  and  traps  he  can  maintain 
a  family  in  any  place  where  game  is  to  be  found ;  nor  do  they 
think  it  any  hardship  imposed  upon  them  ;  for  they  themselves 
say,  that  while  their  field  labour  employs  them  at  most  six 
weeks  in  the  year,  that  of  the  men  continues  the  whole  year 
round. 

When  a  couple  is  newly  married,  the  husband  (without  saying 
a  single  word  upon  the  subject)  takes  considerable  pains  to 
please  his  wife,  and  by  repeated  proofs  of  his  skill  and  abilities 
in  the  art  of  hunting,  to  make  her  sensible  that  she  can  be 
happy  with  him,  and  that  she  will  never  want  while  they  live 
together.  At  break  of  day  he  will  be  off  with  his  gun,  and  often 
by  breakfast  time  return  home  with  a  deer,  turkey,  or  some 
other  game.  He  endeavours  to  make  it  appear  that  it  is  in  his 
power  to  bring  provisions  home  whenever  he  pleases,  and  his 
wife,  proud  of  having  such  a  good  hunter  for  her  husband,  does 
her  utmost  to  serve  and  make  herself  agreeable  to  him. 

The  work  of  the  women  is  not  hard  or  difficult.  They  are 
both  able  and  willing  to  do  it,  and  always  perform  it  with 
cheerfulness.  Mothers  teach  their  daughters  those  duties  which 
common  sense  would  otherwise  point  out  to  them  when  grown 
up.  Within  doors,  their  labour  is  very  trifling ;  there  is  seldom 
more  than  one  pot  or  kettle  ^to  attend  to.  There  is  no  scrubbing 
of  the  house,  and  but  little  to  wash,  and  that  not  often.  Their 
principal  occupations  are  to  cut  and  fetch  in  the  fire  wood,  till 
the  ground,  sow  and  reap  the  grain,  and  pound  the  corn  in 
mortars  for  their  pottage,  and  to  make  bread  which  they  bake  in 


156      MARRIAGE    AND    TREATMENT    OF    THEIR    WIVES. 

the  ashes.  When  going  on  a  journey,  or  to  hunting  camps  with 
their  husbands,  if  they  have  no  horses,  they  carry  a  pack  on 
their  backs  which  often  appears  heavier  than  it  really  is ;  it  gen 
erally  consists  of  a  blanket,  a  dressed  deer  skin  for  mocksens,  a 
few  articles  of  kitchen  furniture,  as  a  kettle,  bowl,  or  dish,  with 
spoons,  and  some  bread,  corn,  salt,  &c.,  for  their  nourishment. 
I  have  never  known  an  Indian  woman  complain  of  the  hardship 
of  carrying  this  burden,  which  serves  for  their  own  comfort  and 
support  as  well  as  of  their  husbands. 

The  tilling  of  the  ground  at  home,  getting  of  the  fire  wood, 
and  pounding  of  corn  in  mortars,  is  frequently  done  by  female 
parties,  much  in  the  manner  of  those  husking,  quilting,  and 
other  frolics  (as  they  are  called),  which  are  so  common  in 
some  parts  of  the  United  States,  particularly  to  the  eastward. 
The  labour  is  thus  quickly  and  easily  performed;  when  it  is 
over,  and  sometimes  in  intervals,  they  sit  down  to  enjoy  them 
selves  by  feasting  on  some  good  victuals,  prepared  for  them  by 
the  person  or  family  for  whom  they  work,  and  which  the  man 
has  taken  care  to  provide  before  hand  from  the  woods  ;  for  this 
is  considered  a  principal  part  of  the  business,  as  there  are  gener 
ally  more  or  less  of  the  females  assembled  who  have  not,  perhaps 
for  a  long  time,  tasted  a  morsel  of  meat,  being  either  widows,  or 
orphans,  or  otherwise  in  straitened  circumstances.  Even  the 
chat  which  passes  during  their  joint  labours  is  highly  diverting 
to  them,  and  so  they  seek  to  be  employed  in  this  way  as  long  as 
they  can,  by  going  round  to  all  those  in  the  village  who  have 
ground  to  till. 

When  the  harvest  is  in,  which  generally  happens  by  the  end 
of  September,  the  women  have  little  else  to  do  than  to  prepare 
the  daily  victuals,  and  get  fire  wood,  until  the  latter  end  of 
February  or  beginning  of  March,  as  the  season  is  more  or  less 
backward,  when  they  go  to  their  sugar  camps,  where  they 
extract  sugar  from  the  maple  tree.  The  men  having  built 
or  repaired  their  temporary  cabin,  and  made  all  the  troughs  of 
various  sizes,  the  women  commence  making  sugar,  while  the 
men  are  looking  out  for  meat,  at  this  time  generally  fat  bears, 
which  are  still  in  their  winter  quarters.  When  at  home,  they 
will  occasionally  assist  their  wives  in  gathering  the  sap,  and 


MARRIAGE    AND    TREATMENT    OF    THEIR    WIVES.      157 

watch  the  kettles  in  their  absence,  that  the  syrup  may  not  boil 
over. 

A  man  who  wishes  his  wife  to  be  with  him  while  he  is  out 
hunting  in  the  woods,  needs  only  tell  her,  that  on  such  a  day 
they  will  go  to  such  a  place,  where  he  will  hunt  for  a  length  of 
time,  and  she  will  be  sure  to  have  provisions  and  every  thing 
else  that  is  necessary  in  complete  readiness,  and  well  packed  up 
to  carry  to  the  spot;  for  the  man,  as  soon  as  he  enters  the 
woods,  has  to  be  looking  out  and  about  for  game,  and  therefore 
cannot  be  encumbered  with  any  burden  ;  after  wounding  a  deer, 
he  may  have  to  pursue  it  for  several  miles,  often  running  it 
fairly  down.  The  woman,  therefore,  takes  charge  of  the  baggage, 
brings  it  to  the  place  of  encampment,  and  there,  immediately 
enters  on  the  duties  of  housekeeping,  as  if  they  were  at  home  ; 
she  moreover  takes  pains  to  dry  as  much  meat  as  she  can,  that 
none  may  be  lost ;  she  carefully  puts  the  tallow  up,  assists  in 
drying  the  skins,  gathers  as  much  wild  hemp  as  possible  for 
the  purpose  of  making  strings,  carrying-bands,  bags  and  other 
necessary  articles,  collects  roots  for  dyeing;  in  short,  does 
every  thing  in  her  power  to  leave  no  care  to  her  husband  but 
the  important  one  of  providing  meat  for  the  family. 

After  all,  the  fatigue  of  the  women  is  by  no  means  to  be  com 
pared  to  that  of  the  men.  Their  hard  and  difficult  employments 
are  periodical  and  of  short  duration,  while  their  husband's 
labours  are  constant  and  severe  in  the  extreme.  Were  a  man 
to  take  upon  himself  a  part  of  his  wife's  duty,  in  addition  to  his 
own,  he  must  necessarily  sink  under  the  load,  and  of  course  his 
family  must  suffer  with  him.  On  his  exertions  as  a  hunter, 
their  existence  depends  ;  in  order  to  be  able  to  follow  that  rough 
employment  with  success,  he  must  keep  his  limbs  as  supple  as 
he  can,  he  must  avoid  hard  labour  as  much  as  possible,  that  his 
joints  may  not  become  stiffened,  and  that  he  may  preserve  the 
necessary  strength  and  agility  of  body  to  enable  him  to  pursue 
the  chase,  and  bear  the  unavoidable  hardships  attendant  on  it ; 
for  the  fatigues  of  hunting  wear  out  the  body  and  constitution  far 
more  than  manual  labour.  Neither  creeks  nor  rivers,  whether 
shallow  or  deep,  frozen  or  free  from  ice,  must  be  an  obstacle 
to  the  hunter,  when  in  pursuit  of  a  wounded  deer,  bear,  or  other 


I$8     MARRIAGE    AND    TREATMENT    OF    THEIR    WIVES. 

animal,  as  is  often  the  case.  Nor  has  he  then  leisure  to  think  on 
the  state  of  his  body,  and  to  consider  whether  his  blood  is  not 
too  much  heated  to  plunge  without  danger  into  the  cold  stream, 
since  the  game  he  is  in  pursuit  of  is  running  off  from  him  with 
full  speed.  Many  dangerous  accidents  often  befal  him,  both  as 
a  hunter  and  a  warrior  (for  he  is  both),  and  are  seldom  unat 
tended  with  painful  consequences,  such  as  rheumatism,  or  con 
sumption  of  the  lungs,  for  which  the  sweat-house,  on  which 
they  so  much  depend,  and  to  which  they  often  resort  for  relief, 
especially  after  a  fatiguing  hunt  or  warlike  excursion,  is  not 
always  a  sure  preservative  or  an  effectual  remedy. 

The  husband  generally  leaves  the  skins  and  peltry  which  he 
has  procured  by  hunting  to  the  care  of  his  wife,  who  sells  or  bar 
ters  them  away  to  the  best  advantage  for  such  necessaries  as  are 
wanted  in  the  family  ;  not  forgetting  to  supply  her  husband  with 
what  he  stands  in  need  of,  who,  when  he  receives  it  from  her 
hands  never  fails  to  return  her  thanks  in  the  kindest  manner.  If 
debts  had  been  previously  contracted,  either  by  the  woman,  or 
by  her  and  her  husband  jointly,  or  if  a  horse  should  be  wanted, 
as  much  is  laid  aside  as  will  be  sufficient  to  pay  the  debts  or  pur 
chase  the  horse. 

When  a  woman  has  got  in  her  harvest  of  corn,  it  is  considered 
as  belonging  to  her  husband,  who,  if  he  has  suffering  friends, 
may  give  them  as  much  of  it  as  he  pleases,  without  consulting 
his  wife,  or  being  afraid  of  her  being  displeased  ;  for  she  is  in  the 
firm  belief  that  he  is  able  to  procure  that  article  whenever  it  is 
wanted.  The  sugar  which  she  makes  out  of  the  maple  tree  is 
also  considered  as  belonging  to  her  husband. 

There  is  nothing  in  an  Indian's  house  or  family  without  its 
particular  owner.  Every  individual  knows  what  belongs  to  him, 
from  the  horse  or  cow  down  to  the  dog,  cat,  kitten  and  little 
chicken.  Parents  make  presents  to  their  children,  and  they  in 
return  to  their  parents.  A  father  will  sometimes  ask  his  wife 
or  one  of  his  children  for  the  loan  of  his  horse  to  go  out  a  hunt 
ing.  For  a  litter  of  kittens  or  brood  of  chickens,  there  are  often 
as  many  different  owners  as  there  are  individual  animals.  In 
purchasing  a  hen  with  her  brood,  one  frequently  has  to  deal  for 
it  with  several  children.  Thus,  while  the  principle  of  community 


MARRIAGE    AND    TREATMENT    OF    THEIR    WIVES.      159 

of  goods  prevails  in  the  state,  the  rights  of  property  are  acknowl 
edged  among  the  members  of  a  family.  This  is  attended  with  a 
very  good  effect;  for  by  this  means  every  living  creature  is 
properly  taken  care  of.  It  also  promotes  liberality  among  the 
children,  which  becomes  a  habit  with  them  by  the  time  they  are 
grown  up. 

An  Indian  loves  to  see  his  wife  well  clothed,  which  is  a  proof 
that  he  is  fond  of  her;  at  least,  it  is  so  considered.  While  his 
wife  is  bartering  the  skins  and  peltry  he  has  taken  in  his  hunt, 
he  will  seat  himself  at  some  distance,  to  observe  her  choice,  and 
how  she  and  the  traders  agree  together.  When  she  finds  an 
article  which  she  thinks  will  suit  or  please  her  husband,  she  never 
fails  to  purchase  it  for  him  ;  she  tells  him  that  it  is  her  choice, 
and  he  is  never  dissatisfied. 

The  more  a  man  does  for  his  wife  the  more  he  is  esteemed,  par 
ticularly  by  the  women,  who  will  say  :  "This  man  surely  loves  his 
wife."  Some  men  at  their  leisure  hours  make  bowls  and  ladles, 
which,  when  finished,  are  at  their  wives'  disposal. 

If  a  sick  or  pregnant  woman  longs  for  any  article  of  food,  be 
it  what  it  may,  and  however  difficult  to  be  procured,  the  husband 
immediately  sets  out  to  endeavour  to  get  it.  I  have  known  a 
man  to  go  forty  or  fifty  miles  for  a  mess  of  cranberries  to  satisfy 
his  wife's  longing.  In  the  year  1762  I  was  witness  to  a  remark 
able  instance  of  the  disposition  of  Indians  to  indulge  their  wives. 
There  was  a  famine  in  the  land,  and  a  sick  Indian  woman  ex 
pressed  a  great  desire  for  a  mess  of  Indian  corn.  Her  husband 
having  heard  that  a  trader  at  Lower  Sandusky  had  a  little,  set 
off  on  horseback  for  that  place,  one  hundred  miles  distant,  and 
returned  with  as  much  corn  as  filled  the  crown  of  his  hat,  for 
which  he  gave  his  horse  in  exchange,  and  came  home  on  foot, 
bringing  his  saddle  back  with  him.  Squirrels,  ducks,  and  other 
like  delicacies,  when  most  difficult  to  be  obtained,  are  what 
women  in  the  first  stage  of  their  pregnancy  generally  long  for. 
The  husband  in  every  such  case  will  go  out  and  spare  no  pains 
nor  trouble  until  he  has  procured  what  is  wanted. 

In  other  cases,  the  men  and  their  wives  do  not  in  general 
trouble  themselves  with  each  other's  business ;  but  the  wife, 
knowing  that  the  father  is  very  fond  of  his  children,  is  always 


160     MARRIAGE    AND    TREATMENT    OF    THEIR    WIVES. 

prepared  to  tell  him  some  diverting  anecdote  of  one  or  the  other 
of  them,  especially  if  he  has  been  absent  for  some  time. 

It  very  seldom  happens  that  a  man  condescends  to  quarrel 
with  his  wife,  or  abuse  her,  though  she  has  given  him  just  cause. 
In  such  a  case  the  man,  without  replying,  or  saying  a  single 
word,  will  take  his  gun  and  go  into  the  woods,  and  remain  there 
a  week  or  perhaps  a  fortnight,  living  on  the  meat  he  has  killed, 
before  he  returns  home  again :  well  knowing  that  he  cannot  in 
flict  a  greater  punishment  on  his  wife  for  her  conduct  to  him  than 
by  absenting  himself  for  a  while ;  for  she  is  not  only  kept  in 
suspense,  uncertain  whether  he  will  return  again,  but  is  soon 
reported  as  a  bad  and  quarrelsome  woman ;  for,  as  on  those 
occasions,  the  man  does  not  tell  his  wife  on  what  day  or  at  what 
time  he  will  be  back  again,  which  he  otherwise,  when  they  are 
on  good  terms,  never  neglects  to  do,  she  is  at  once  put  to  shame 
by  her  neighbours,  who  soon  suspecting  something,  do  not  fail 
to  put  such  questions  to  her,  as  she  either  cannot,  or  is  ashamed 
to  answer.  When  he  at  length  does  return,  she  endeavours  to 
let  him  see  by  her  attentions,  that  she  has  repented,  though 
neither  speak  to  each  other  a  single  word  on  the  subject  of  what 
has  passed.  And  as  his  children,  if  he  has  any,  will  on  his  re 
turn  hang  about  him  and  soothe  him  with  their  caresses,  he  is, 
on  their  account,  ready  to  forgive,  or  at  least  to  say  nothing  un 
pleasant  to  their  mother.  She  has,  however,  received  by  this  a 
solemn  warning,  and  must  take  care  how  she  behaves  in  future, 
lest  the  next  time  her  husband  should  stay  away  altogether  and 
take  another  wife.  It  is  very  probable,  that  if  at  this  time  they 
had  had  no  children,  he  would  have  left  her,  but  then  he  would 
have  taken  his  property  with  him  at  the  same  time. 

On  the  return  of  an  Indian  from  a  journey,  or  long  absence, 
he  will,  on  entering  the  house,  say,  "  I  am  returned  !  "  to  which 
his  wife  will  reply,1  "  I  rejoice  !  "  and  having  cast  his  eyes  around, 
he  will  enquire,  whether  all  the  children  are  well,  when  being 
answered  in  the  affirmative,  he  replies,  "  I  am  glad !  "  which  for 
the  present  is  all  the  conversation  that  passes  between  them  ;  nor 
does  he  relate  anything  at  this  present  time  that  occurred  on  his 

i  For  «  reply  "  read  "  answer" 


MARRIAGE    AND    TREATMENT    OF    THEIR    WIVES.      l6l 

journey,  but  holds  himself  in  readiness  to  partake  of  the  nour 
ishment  which  his  wife  is  preparing  for  him.  After  a  while, 
when  the  men  of  the  village  have  assembled  at  his  house,  his 
wife,  with  the  rest,  hears  his  story  at  full  length. 

Marriages  are  proposed  and  concluded  in  different  ways.  The 
parents  on  both  sides,  having  observed  an  attachment  between 
two  young  persons,  negotiate  for  them.  This  generally  com 
mences  from  the  house'  where  the  bridegroom  lives,  whose  »•' 
mother  is  the  negotiatrix  for  him,  and  begins  her  duties  by 
taking  a  good  leg  of  venison,  or  bear's  meat,  or  something  else 
of  the  same  kind,  to  the  house  where  the  bride  dwells,  not  for 
getting  to  mention,  that  her  son  has  killed  it :  in  return  for  this 
the  mother  of  the  bride,  if  she  otherwise  approves  of  the  match, 
which  she  well  understands  by  the  presents  to  be  intended,  will 
prepare  a  good  dish  of  victuals,  the  produce  of  the  labour  of 
woman,  such  as  beans,  Indian  corn,  or  the  like,  and  then  taking 
it  to  the  house  where  the  bridegroom  lives,  will  say,  "  This  is 
the  produce  of  my  daughter's  field  ;  and  she  also  prepared  it."  If 
afterwards  the  mothers  of  the  parties  are  enabled  to  tell  the  good 
news  to  each  other,  that  the  young  people  have  pronounced  that 
which  was  sent  them  very  good,  the  bargain  is  struck.  It  is  as 
much  as  if  the  young  man  had  said  to  the  girl,  "  I  am  able  to 
provide  you  at  all  times  with  meat  to  eat !  "  and  she  had  replied, 
"  and  such  good  victuals  from  the  field,  you  shall  have  from 
me!  "  From  this  time  not  only  presents  of  this  kind  are  con 
tinued  on  both  sides,  but  articles  of  clothing  are  presented  to  the 
parents  by  each  party,  by  way  of  return  for  what  they  have  re 
ceived,  of  which  the  young  people  always  have  a  share.  The  v 
friendship  between  the  two  families  daily  increasing,  they  do 
their  domestic  and  field  work  jointly,  and  when  the  young  peo 
ple  have  agreed  to  live  together,  the  parents  supply  them  with 
necessaries,  such  as  a  kettle,  dishes  or  bowls,  and  also  what  is 
required  for  the  kitchen,  and  with  axes,  hoes,  &c.  to  work  in 
the_field. 

\  The  men   who   have    no   parents   to   negotiate   for  them,  or 

otherwise   choose  to  manage  the    matter  for  themselves,  have 

two   simple  ways  of  attaining   their   object.     The    first  is  :  by 

stepping  up  to  the  woman  whom  they  wish  to  marry,  saying : 

ii 


l62     MARRIAGE    AND    TREATMENT    OF    THEIR    WIVES. 

"  If  you  are  willing  I  will  take  you  as  wife  !  "  when  if  she 
answer  in  the  affirmative,  she  either  goes  with  him  immediately, 
or  meets  him  at  an  appointed  time  and  place. 

The  other  mode  of  .celebrating  marriage  will,  appear  from  the 
following  anecdote. 

An  aged  Indian,  who  for  many  years  had  spent  much  of  his 
time  among  the  white  people,  both  in  Pennsylvania  and  New 
Jersey,  one  day  about  the  year  1770  observed,  that  the  Indians 
had  not  only  a  much  easier  way  of  getting  a  wife  than  the 
whites,  but  were  also  more  certain  of  getting  a  good  one  ; 
"  For,"  (said  he  in  his  broken  English,)  "  White  man  court, — 
court, — may  be  one  whole  year  !  —  may  be  two  year  before  he 
marry !  —  well !  —  may  be  then  got  very  good  wife  —  but  may  be 
not! —  may  be  very  cross  !  — Well  now,  suppose  cross  !  scold  so 
soon  as  get  awake  in  the  morning !  scold  all  day !  scold  until 
sleep! — all  one;  he  must  keep  him!1  White  people  have  law 
forbidding  throwing  away  wife,  be  he  ever  so  cross  !  must  keep 
him  always  !  Well !  how  does  Indian  do  ?  —  Indian  when  he 
see  industrious  Squaw,  which  he  like,  he  go  to  him,  place  his 
two  forefingers  close  aside  each  other,  make  two  look  like  one  — 
look  Squaw  in  the  face  —  see  him  smile  —  which  is  all  one  he 
say,  Yes  !  so  he  take  him  home  —  no  danger  he  be  cross  !  no  ! 
no  !  Squaw  know  too  well  what  Indian  do  if  he  cross  !  —  throw 
him  away  and  take  another  !  Squaw  love  to  eat  meat !  no  hus 
band  !  no  meat !  Squaw  do  every  thing  to  please  husband  !  he 
do  the  same  to  please  Squaw !  live  happy  !  " 

1  The  pronouns  in  the  Indian  language  have  no  feminine  gender. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

RESPECT  FOR  ^HE  AGED. 

1HERE  is  no  nation  in  the  world  who  pay  greater 
respect  to  old  age  than  the  American  Indians.  From 
their  infancy  they  are  taught  to  be  kind  and  attentive 
to  aged  persons,  and  never  to  let  them  suffer  for  want 
of  necessaries  or  comforts.  The  parents  spare  no  pains  to  im 
press  upon  the  minds  of  their  children  the  conviction  that  they 
would  draw  down  upon  themselves  the  anger  of  the  Great 
Spirit,  were  they  to  neglect  those  whom,  in  his  goodness,  he 
had  permitted  to  attain  such  an  advanced  age,  whom  he  had 
protected  with  his  almighty  power  through  all  the  perils  and 
dangers  of  life,  while  so  many  had  perished  by  wars,  accidents, 
and  sickness  in  various  forms,  by  the  incantations  of  the  wizard, 
or  the  stroke  of  the  murderer,  and  not  a  few  by  the  consequences 
of  their  own  imprudent  conduct. 

It  is  a  sacred  principle  among  the  Indians,  and  one  of  those 
moral  and  religious  truths  which  they  have  always  before  their 
eyes,  that  the  Great  Spirit  who  created  them,  and  provided  them 
so  abundantly  with  the  means  of  subsistence,  made  it  the  duty 
of  parents  to  maintain  and  take  care  of  their  children  until  they 
should  be  able  to  provide  for  themselves,  and  that  having  while 
weak  and  helpless  received  the  benefits  of  maintenance,  educa 
tion,  and  protection,  they  are  bound  to  repay  them  by  a  similar 
care  of  those  who  are  labouring  under  the  infirmities  of  old  age, 
and  are  no  longer  able  to  supply  their  own  wants. 

Thus,  a  strong  feeling  of  gratitude  towards  their  elders,  in 
culcated  and  cherished  from  their  earliest  infancy,  is  the  solid 

163 


164  RESPECT    FOR    THE    AGED. 

foundation  on  which  rests  that  respect  for  old  age  for  which 
Indians  are  so  remarkable,  and  it  is  further  supported  by  the 
well-founded  hope  of  receiving  the  like  succours  and  attentions 
in  their  turn,  when  the  heavy  hand  of  time  shall  have  reduced 
them  to  the  same  helpless  situation  which  they  now  commiser 
ate  in  others,  and  seek  by  every  means  in  their  power  to  render 
more  tolerable.  Hence,  they  do  not  confine  themselves  to  acts  ^ 
of  absolute  necessity  ;  it  is  not  enough  for  them  that  the  old  are 
not  suffered  to  starve  with  hunger,  or  perish  with  cold,  but  they 
must  be  made  as  much  as  possible  to  share  in  the  pleasures  and 
comforts  of  life.  It  is,  indeed,  a  moving  spectacle  to  see  the 
tender  and  delicate  attentions  which,  on  every  occasion,  they 
lavish  upon  aged  and  decrepid  persons.  When  going  out  a 
hunting,  they  will  put  them  on  a  horse  or  in  a  canoe,  and  take 
them  into  the  woods  to  their  hunting  ground,  in  order  to  revive 
their  spirits  by  making  them  enjoy  the  sight  of  a  sport  in  which 
they  can  no  longer  participate.  They  place  them  in  particular 
situations,  where  they  are  sure  that  the  game  they  are  in  pursuit 
of  will  pass  by,  taking  proper  measures  at  the  same  time  to  pre 
vent  its  escape,  so  that  their  aged  parents  and  friends  may,  at 
least,  as  our  sportsmen  call  it,  be  in  at  the  death.  Nor  is  this  all ; 
the  hoary  veterans  must  also  enjoy  the  honours  of  the  chase ; 
when  the  animal,  thus  surrounded,  is  come  within  reach  of  their 
guns,  when  every  possibility  of  escape  is  precluded,  by  the 
woods  all  around  being  set  on  fire,  they  all,  young  and  old,  fire 
together,  so  that  it  is  difficult  to  decide1  whose  ball  it  was  that 
brought  the  animal  to  the  ground.  But  they  never  are  at  a  loss 
to  decide,  and  always  give  it  in  favour  of  the  oldest  man 2  in  the 
party.  So,  when  the  young  people  have  discovered  a  place 
where  the  bears  have  their  haunts,  or  have  resorted  to  for  the 
winter,  they  frequently  take  with  them  to  the  spot,  such  of  the 
old  men  as  are  yet  able  to  walk  or  ride,  where  they  not  only 
have  an  opportunity  of  witnessing  the  sport,  but  receive  their 
full  share  of  the  meat  and  oil. 

At  home  the  old  are  as  well  treated  and  taken  care  of  as  if 


1  For  "decide"  read  "say." 

2  For  "man"  read  "men" 


RESPECT    FOR    THE    AGED.  l$ 

they  were  favourite  children.  They  are  cherished  and  even 
caressed ;  indulged  in  health  and  nursed  in  sickness ;  and  all 
their  wishes  and  wants  are  anticipated.  Their  company  is 
sought  by  the  young,  to  whom  their  conversation  is  considered 
an  honour.  Their  advice  is  asked  on  all  occasions,  their  words 
are  listened  to  as  oracles,  and  their  occasional  garrulity,  nay, 
even  the  second  childhood  often  attendant  on  extreme  old  age, 
is  never  with  Indians  a  subject  of  ridicule,  or  laughter.  Respect, 
gratitude,  and  love  are  too  predominant  in  their  minds  to  permit 
any  degrading  idea  to  mix  itself  with  these  truly  honourable  and 
generous  feelings. 

On  every  occasion,  and  in  every  situation  through  life,  age 
takes  the  lead  among  the  Indians.  Even  little  boys,  when 
going  on  parties  of  pleasure,  were  it  only  to  catch  butterflies, 
strictly  adhere  to  this  rule,  and  submit  to  the  direction  of  the 
oldest  in  their  company,  who  is  their  chief,  leader  and  spokes 
man  ;  if  they  are  accosted  on  the  way  by  any  person,  and  asked 
whither  they  are  going,  or  any  other  question,  no  one  will  pre 
sume  to  answer  but  their  speaker.  The  same  rule  is  observed 
when  they  are  grown  up,  and  in  no  case  whatever  will  one  of 
a.  party,  club  or  meeting,  attempt  to  assume  authority  over  the 
leader,  or  even  to  set  him  right  if  he  should  mistake  the  road  or 
take  a  wrong  course;  much  less  will  anyone  contradict  what 
he  says,  unless  his  opinion  should  be  particularly  asked,  in 
which  case,  and  no  other,  he  will  give  his  advice,  but  with 
great  modesty  and  diffidence. 

And  yet  there  have  been  travellers  who  have  ventured  to 
assert  that  old  people  among  the  Indians  are  not  only  neglected 
and  suffered  to  perish  for  want,  but  that  they  are  even,  when  no 
longer  able  to  take  care  of  themselves,  put  out  of  tlie  way  of  all 
trouble.  I  am  free  to  declare,  that  among  all  the  Indian  nations 
that  I  have  become  acquainted  with,  if  any  one  should  kill  an 
old  man  or  woman  for  no  other  cause  than  that  of  having' 
become  useless  or  burdensome  to  society,  it  would  be  consid 
ered  as  an  unpardonable  crime,  the  general  indignation  would 
be  excited,  and  the  murderer  instantly  put  to  death.  I  cannot 
conceive  any  act  that  would  produce  such  an  universal  horror 
and  detestation,  such  is  the  veneration  which  is  everywhere 
felt  for  old  age. 


l66  RESPECT    FOR    THE    AGED. 

Indeed,  I  have  had  sufficient  reason  to  be  convinced  that  this 
principle,  excellent  as  it  is  in  itself,  is  1  even  carried  too  far  by 
the  Indians,  and  that  not  a  little  inconvenience  is  occasioned  by 
it.  A  few  instances  will  make  this  better  understood  than  any 
explanations  that  I  could  give. 

In  the  year  1765,  the  great  body  of  Christian  Indians,  after 
having  remained  sixteen  months  at  and  near  Philadelphia,  were 
permitted  to  return  to  their  own  country,  peace  having  been  con 
cluded  with  the  Indian  nations,  who  still  continued  at  war,  not 
withstanding  the  pacification  between  the  European  powers. 
They  resolved  to  open  a  path  through  the  wilderness  from  the 
frontier  settlements  beyond  the  Blue  Mountains,  directly  to  Wyo 
ming  on  the  Susquehannah.  This  path  they  laid  off  and  cut  as 
they  proceeded,  two,  three  or  four  miles  at  a  time,  according  to 
the  nature  of  the  ground  and  the  convenience  of  water,  bringing 
up  their  baggage  by  making  two  or  more  trips,  as  they  had  no 
horses  to  carry  it.  Having  arrived  at  the  great  Pine  Swamp, 
then  supposed  to  be  about  fourteen  miles  wide,  it  was  found 
very  difficult  to  cut  a  passage  on  account  of  the  thickets  and 
of  the  great  number  of  fallen  trees  which  incumbered  it ;  they 
were,  besides,  unacquainted  with  that  part  of  the  country,  An 
old  Indian,2  however,  took  the  lead,  and  undertook  to  be  their 
guide.  After  a  tedious  march  of  near  two  weeks,  attended  with 
much  labour,  he  brought  them  across  the  Swamp,  to  the  large 
creek  which  borders  upon  it  on  the  opposite  side.  There  they 
found  a  very  steep  mountain,  through  which  no  passage  could 
be  found  either  above  or  below.  Discouraged  at  the  prospect 
before  them,  they  now  saw  no  alternative  but  to  return  the  same 
way  they  had  come,  and  take  the  route  by  Fort  Allen3  to  Nes- 
copeck,  and  so  up  the  Susquehannah  to  Wyoming,  a  distance  of 
nearly  one  hundred  miles  round.  In  this  difficulty,  it  fortunately 
struck  their  Missionary,  Mr.  Zeisberger,  that  a  certain  Indian 
named  David,  who  was  one  of  their  party  and  had  followed 

1  Between  "is"  and  "even"  insert  "sometimes.'1'' 

2  For  "  an  old  Indian  "  read  "  several  old  men." 

3  [The  fort,  built  by  Franklin  in  the  early  winter  of  1756,  stood  on  the  site  of 
Weissport,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Lehigh,  in  Carbon  County,  Penna.     The  well  of 
the  fort  alone  remains  to  mark  its  site.] 


RESPECT    FOR    THE    AGED.  l6/ 

them  all  the  way,  was  acquainted  with  that  part  of  the  coun 
try,  and  might,  perhaps,  be  able  to  point  out  to  them  some  better 
and  shorter  road.  He  soon  found  that  he  was  not  mistaken. 
David  was  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  country,  and  knew  a 
good  road,  through  which  the  party  might  easily  pass,  but  not 
having  been  questioned  on  the  subject,  had  hitherto  kept  silence, 
and  followed  with  the  rest,  though  he  knew  all  the  while  they 
were  going  wrong.  A  dialogue  then  took  place  between  him 
and  the  Missionary. 

ZEISB. —  David  !  You  are,  I  believe,  acquainted  with  this  coun 
try  ;  perhaps  you  know  a  better  road 1  and  a  shorter  one  than 
that  which  we  are  going  to  take. 

DAVID. — Yes,  I  do ;  there  is  such  a  road,1  which  we  may  easily 
get  through,  and  have  a  much  shorter  distance  to  travel  than  by 
that  which  is  proposed  ;  I  am  sure  of  it. 

ZEISB. —  What;  David!  we  were  all  going  wrong,  and  yet  you 
are  with  us  ? 

DAVID. —  Yes,  't  is  so. 

ZEISB. —  And  yet  you  said  nothing,  and  followed  with  the  rest 
as  if  all  had  been  right ! 

DAVID. —  Yes ;  the  guides  are  somewhat  older  than  myself; 
they  took  the  lead,  and  never  asked  me  whether  I  had  any 
knowledge  of  the  country.  If  they  had  enquired,  I  would  have 
told  them. 

ZEISB. — Will  you  now  tell  them  ? 

DAVID. —  No,  indeed  ;  unless  they  ask  me.  It  does  not  become 
an  Indian  to  instruct  his  elders. 

The  question  was  then  asked  him  at  the  instigation  of  Mr. 
Zeisberger,  when  he  immediately  told  them  that  they  must  all 
return  to  a  certain  spot,  six  miles  back,  and  then  direct  their 
course  more  to  the  north-east,  which  would  bring  them  to  a 
gap  in  the  mountain,  where  they  could  pass  through  with  great 
ease.  They  did  so,  and  he  followed  them,  and  being  now  de 
sired  to  take  the  lead,  he  did  it,  and  brought  them  to  the  very 
spot  he  had  described,  and  from  thence  led  them  all  the  way  to 
Wyoming.  This  difficult  part  of  the  road,  in  the  swamp,  has 

1For  "road"  read  "course." 


l68  RESPECT    FOR    THE    AGED. 

been  since  called  David's  path,  and  the  state  road  now  passes 
through  it.1 

This  anecdote  was  told  me  by  Mr.  Zeisberger  himself,  whom 
I  have  never  known  to  say  anything  that  was  not  strictly  true. 
I  therefore  give  it  full  credit;  the  more  so,  as  I  have  myself 
witnessed  two  similar  instances,  with  the  relation  of  which  I 
shall  conclude  this  chapter. 

The  first  happened  in  the  year  1/91.  I  had  parted  by  acci 
dent  from  the  company  I  was  with,  and  lost  my  way  in  the 
woods.  I  had  with  me  an  Indian  lad  about  twelve  or  thirteen 
years  of  age,  and  wished  him  to  take  the  lead,  to  which,  how 
ever,  he  would  not  consent.  We  were  at  last  found  by  our  party, 
who  had  gone  in  search  of  us.  I  complained  to  them  of  the  boy, 
for  not  doing  what  I  had  bidden  him  ;  but  they  answered,  "  that 
he  had  done  right,  and  that  it  did  not  become  a  boy  to  walk 
before  a  man  and  be  his  leader." 

The  second  occurrence  of  the  like  kind,  took  place  in  the  year 
1798.  I  was  on  a  journey  with  two  young  Indians,  from  Upper 
Canada  to  the  Muskingum,  round  the  head  of  Lake  Erie.2  Neither 
of  these  Indians  having  ever  been  in  the  country  we  were  going 
to,  they  received  their  instructions  from  others  before  their  de 
parture.  The  leader,  however,  whose  name  was  Leonhard,  having 
once  mistaken  a  path,  we  travelled  several  miles  in  a  wrong  direc 
tion,  until,  at  last,  I  discovered  the  mistake,  by  our  having  the 
Owl  creek  to  our  left,  when  we  ought  to  have  had  it  to  our 
right.  I  observed  this  to  Christian,  the  young  Indian  in  the 
rear,  who  coinciding  with  me  in  opinion,  I  desired  him  to  run 
forward  to  Leonhard,  who  was  far  ahead  of  us,  and  to  bring  him 

1  [The  road  from  Easton,  via  Ross  Common  and  the  Pocono,  to  Wilkes-Barre,  form 
erly  called  the  Wilkes-Barre  turnpike.] 

2  [Mr.  Heckewelder  had  been  despatched  by  the  Mission  Board  at  Bethlehem  to 
Fairfield,  on  the  Retrenche,  (Thames,)  in  Upper  Canada,  where  the  Moravian  Indians 
settled  in  1792,  to  advise  with  them  and  their  teachers,  concerning  a  return  to  the 
valley  of  the  Tuscarawas,  in  which  the  survey  of  a  grant  of  12,000  acres  of  land, 
made  by  Congress,  had  recently  been  completed.     Pursuant  to  his  instructions,  he 
proceeded  from  Fairfield  to  the  Tuscarawas,  to  make  the  necessary  preparations  for 
a  colony  that  was  to  follow  in  the  ensuing  autumn,  and  re-founded  Gnadenhutten. 
The  village  of  Goshen,  seven  miles  higher  up  the  river,  was  built  in  October,  on  the 
arrival  of  David  Zeisberger  and  the  expected  colony  from  the  Retrenche.] 


RESPECT    FOR    THE    AGED.  169 

back  ;  but  the  lad  answered  that  he  could  not  do  it.  I  asked  him 
the  reason.  "  It  is,"  said  he,  "  because  I  am  younger  than  he  is." 
"  Will  you  then,"  replied  I,  "  take  my  message  to  him,  and  tell 
him  that  /  desire  him  to  return  to  this  place,  where  I  will  wait 
for  him  ?"  The  young  man  immediately  consented,  went  forward 
to  Leonhard,  and  brought  him  back,  on  which  we  took  an  east 
ward  course  through  the  wood  to  the  Owl  creek,  and,  after  cross 
ing  it,  fell  into  our  right  path. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

PRIDE  AND  GREATNESS  OF  MIND. 

|HE  Indians  are  proud  but.  not  vain;  they  consider 
vanity  as  degrading  and  unworthy  the  character  of  a 
man.  The  hunter  never  boasts  of  his  skill  or  strength, 
nor  the  warrior  of  his  prowess.  It  is  noffight.  they 
say,  that  one  should  value  himself  too  much  for  an  action  which 
another  may  perform  as  well  as  himself,  and  when  a  man  extols 
his  own  deeds,  it  seems  as  if  he  doubted  his  own  capability  to 
do  the  like  again  when  he  pleased.  Therefore,  they  prefer  in  all 
cases  to  let  their  actions  speak  for  themselves.  The  skins  and 
peltry  which  the  hunter  brings  home,  the  deer's  horns  on  the 
roof  of  his  cabin,  the  horses,  furniture  and  other  property  that 
he  possesses,  his  apparel  and  that  of  his  family,  the  visits  with 
which  he  is  honored  by  the  first  and  best  men  among  his  nation  ; 
all  these  things  show  what  he  is  and  what  he  has  done,  and  with 
this  he  rests  satisfied. 

So  with  the  warrior;  it  is  enough  for  him  that  he  is  known  to 
be  a  man  of  spirit  and  courage  by  the  scalps  and  prisoners  that  he 
brings  home ;  he  never  is  seen  going  about  boasting  of  his  war 
like  exploits,  and  when  questioned  on  the  subject,  he  makes  his 
answer  as  short  as  possible.  Even  when  he  is  entering  a  town 
with  his  prisoners  and  scalps,  he  does  not  stare  about  to  see 
whether  the  people  are  looking  at  him,  but  walks  his  usual 
steady  pace  and  marches  straight  forward  without  appearing  to 
see  any  body.  When  at  some  of  their  particular  festivals,  every 
warrior  is  called  upon  to  relate  his  feats  of  arms,  they  make  it  a 
point  to  be  as  brief  as  possible,  leaving  it  to  those  who  have  done 

170 


PRIDE    AND    GREATNESS    OF    MIND.  I/I 

but  little,  to  swell  their  actions  into  importance,  and  give  them 
selves  credit  for  what  they  have  done.  I  cannot  illustrate  this 
subject  better  than  by  a  few  anecdotes. 

In  the  year  1779,  two  war  chiefs,  the  one  a  young  man  of  the 
Shawano  tribe,  and  the  other  an  old  warrior  of  the  Wyandots, 
living  near  Detroit,  much  celebrated  for'  his  great  actions,  but 
who  during  the  whole  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  could  not  be 
persuaded  to  take  the  field  against  the  Americans,  met  acci 
dentally  at  my  house  on  Muskingum,  where  they  had  separately 
come  to  pay  me  a  friendly  visit.  The  Shawano  (whose  nation, 
by  the  bye,  are  noted  for  much  talk,)  entered  upon  the  subject 
of  war,  and  with  much  earnestness  in  words  and  gestures,  related 
the  actions  he  had  been  engaged  in,  showing  at  the  same  time 
on  his  arm  the  mark  of  a  bullet  wound.  During  all  this  time, 
the  Wyandot,  smoking  his  pipe,  listened  with  great  attention  and 
apparent  surprise ;  and  having  afterwards  to  answer,  according 
to  custom,  by  relating  what  he  had  done,  he  laid  down  his  pipe, 
and  deliberately  drawing  off  his  clothes,  except  the  breech-cloth, 
rose  up  and  said  :  "  I  have  been  in  upwards  of  twenty  engage 
ments  with  the  enemy  and  fought  with  the  French  against  the 
English ;  I  have  warred  against  the  southern  nations,  and  my 
body  shows  that  I  have  been  struck  and  wounded  by  nine  balls. 
These  two  wounds  I  received  at  the  same  moment,  from  two 
Cherokees,  who,  seeing  me  fall,  rested  their  guns  against  a  tree, 
and  ran  up  with  their  tomahawks  to  dispatch  me,  and  take  off 
my  scalp.  With  the  aid  of  the  Great  Spirit  I  jumped  up,  just  at 
the  moment  when  they  were  about  to  give  me  the  stroke.  I 
struck  them  and  they  both  fell  at  my  feet.  I  took  their  scalps 
and  returned  home."  Thus  this  grave  and  respectable  veteran 
gave  a  lesson  to  the  young  Shawano,  which,  if  he  well  under 
stood,  he,  no  doubt,  ever  after  remembered  ;  for  in  a  few  words, 
and  in  less  than  five  minutes,  he  showed  him  at  once  the  con 
trast  between  great  actions  briefly  and  modestly  told,  and  every 
day  occurrences  related  and  dwelt  on  with  pompous  minuteness. 
This  contrast,  indeed,  was  particularly  striking,  the  more  so  as 
the  modest  warrior  did  not  seem  to  enjoy  his  triumph,  nor  to  be 
even  conscious  of  the  accession  to  his  fame  which  must  result 
from  the  publicity  of  the  account  which  he  had  given.  As  both 


\J2  PRIDE    AND    GREATNESS    OF    MIND. 

parties  spoke  the  Shawano  language,  I  well  understood  every 
thing  they  said,  and  I  paid  the  most  particular  attention  to  their 
discourse,  which  was  of  itself  sufficiently  interesting. 
r  This  passion  of  the  Indians,  which  I  have  called  pride,  but 
which  might,  perhaps,  be  better  denominated  high-mindedness, 
is  generally  combined  with  a  great  sense  of  honour,  and  not  sel 
dom  produces  actions  of  the  most  heroic  kind.  I  am  now  going 
to  relate  an  instance  of  this  honourable  pride,  which  I  have  also 
witnessed.  An  Indian  of  the  Lenape  nation,  who  was  considered 
as  a  very  dangerous  person,  and  was  much  dreaded  on  that  ac 
count,  had  publicly  declared  that  as  soon  as  another  Indian,  who 
was  then  gone  to  Sandusky,  should  return  from  thence,  he  would 
certainly  kill  him.  This  dangerous  Indian  called  in  one  day  at 
my  house  on  the  Muskingum  to  ask  me  for  some  tobacco. 
While  this  unwelcome  guest  was  smoking  his  pipe  by  my  fire, 
behold !  the  other  Indian  whom  he  had  threatened  to  kill,  and 
who  at  that  moment  had  just  arrived,  also  entered  the  house.  I 
was  much  frightened,  as  I  feared  the  bad  Indian  would  take  that 
opportunity  to  carry  his  threat  into  execution,  and  that  my  house 
would  be  made  the  scene  of  a  horrid  murder.  I  walked  to  the 
door,  in  order  not  to  witness  a  crime  that  I  could  not  prevent, 
when  to  my  great  astonishment  I  heard  the  Indian  whom  I 
thought  in  danger,  address  the  other  in  these  words :  "  Uncle, 
you  have  threatened  to  kill  me  —  you  have  declared  that  you 
would  do  it  the  first  time  we  should  meet.  Now  I  am  here,  and 
we  are  together.  Am  I  to  take  it  for  granted  that  you  are  in 
earnest,  and  that  you  are  really  determined  to  take  my  life  as 
you  have  declared  ?  Am  I  now  to  consider  you  as  my  avowed 
enemy,  and  in  order  to  secure  my  own  life  against  your  murder 
ous  designs,  to  be  the  first  to  strike  you  and  embrue  my  hands 
in  your  blood  ?  —  I  will  not,  I  cannot  do  it.  Your  heart  is  bad, 
it  is  true,  but  still  you  appear  to  be  a  generous  foe,  for  you  gave 
me  notice  of  what  you  intended  to  do ;  you  have  put  me  on  my 
guard,  and  did  not  attempt  to  assassinate  me  by  surprise ;  I, 
therefore,  will  spare  you  until  you  lift  up  your  arm  to  strike,  and 
then,  uncle,  it  will  be  seen  which  of  us  shall  fall !  "  The  mur 
derer  was  thunderstruck,  and  without  replying  a  word,  slunk  off 
and  left  the  house. 


PRIDE    AND    GREATNESS    OF    MIND.  I  7: 

The  anecdote  with  which  I  am  going  to  conclude  this  chapter, 
will  display  an  act  of  heroism  produced  by  this  elevation  of  mind 
which  I  have  called  pride,  which,  perhaps,  may  have  been 
equalled,  but,  I  dare  say,  was  hardly  ever  surpassed  In  the 
spring  of  the  year  1782,  the  war  chief  of  the  Wyandots  of  Lower 
Sandusky  sent  a  white  prisoner  (a  young  man  whom  he  had 
taken  at  Fort  M'Intosh)  as  a  present  to  another  chief,  who  was 
called  the  Half-king  of  Upper  Sandusky,1  for  the  purpose  of 
being  adopted  into  his  family,  in  the  place  of  one  of  his  sons, 
who  had  been  killed  the  preceding  year,  while  at  war  with  the 
people  on  the  Ohio.  The  prisoner  arrived,  and  was  presented 
to  the  Half-king's  wife,  but  she  refused  to  receive  him,  which, 
according  to  the  Indian  rule,  was,  in  fact,  a  sentence  of  death. 
The  young  man  was,  therefore,  taken  away,  for  the  purpose  of 
being  tortured  and  burnt  on  the  pile.  While  the  dreadful  prepa 
rations  were  making  near  the  village,  the  unhappy  victim  being 
already  tied  to  the  stake,  and  the  Indians  arriving  from  all  quar 
ters  to  join  in  the  cruel  act  or  to  witness  it,  two  English  traders, 
Messrs.  Anmdcl  and  Robbins  (I  delight  in  making  this  honourable 
mention  of  their  names),  shocked  at  the  idea  of  the  cruelties 
which  were  about  to  be  perpetrated,  and  moved  by  feelings  of 
pit}-  and  humanity,  resolved  to  unite  their  exertions  to  endeavour 
to  save  the  prisoner's  life  by  offering  a  ransom  to  the  war  chiefj 
which  he,  however  refused,  because,  said  he,  it  was  an  established 
rule  among  them,  that  when  a  prisoner  who  had  been  given  as 
a  present,  was  refused  adoption,  he  was  irrevocably  doomed  to 
the  stake,  and  it  was  not  in  the  power  of  any  one  to  save  his  life. 
Besides,  added  he.  the  numerous  war  captains  who  were  on  the 


\Vyaniot  village  of  Upper  Sandasky  was  three  miles  in  a  south-easterly 
direction  from  the  site  of  the  present  town  of  Upper  Sandusky,  the  county-seat  of 
\Yyacdot  County,  Ohio.  Lower  Sandusky,  a  trading-post  and  Wyandot  town,  was 
situated  a:  the  head  of  navigation  on  the  Sandusky.  Fremont^  the  county-seat  of 
Sandusky  County,  marks  its  sire.  Here  the  Moravian  missionaries  and  their  families 
were  most  hospitably  entertained  by  Arondel  and  Robbins  for  upwards  of  three 
weeks,  while  awaiting  the  arrival  of  boats  from  Detroit,  on  which  they  were  to  be 
taken  as  prisoners  of  war  to  that  post.  It  was  through  British  influence  that  the 
Mission  on  the  Muskingum  had  been  overthrown  in  the  early  autumn  of  1781,  and 
that  its  seat  was  transferred  to  the  Sandusky.  Fort  Mclntosh  stood  on  the  present 
town  of  Beaver,  Beaver  County,  Pennsylvania.  It  was  erected  in  October  of  1778 
by  General  Mclntosh,  then  in  command  of  the  Western  Department.] 


174  PRIDE    AND     GREATNESS    OF    MIND. 

spot,  had  it  in  charge  to  see  the  sentence  carried  into  execution. 
The  two  generous  Englishmen,  however,  were  not  discouraged, 
and  determined  to  try  a  last  effort.  They  well  knew  what  effects 
the  high-minded  pride  of  an  Indian  was  capable  of  producing, 
and  to  this  strong  and  noble  passion  they  directed  their  attacks : 
"  But,"  said  they,  in  reply  to  the  answer  which  the  chief  had 
made  them,  "  among  all  those  chiefs  whom  you  have  mentioned, 
there  is  none  who  equals  you  in  greatness ;  you  are  considered 
not  only  as  the  greatest  and  bravest,  but  as  the  best  man  in  the 
nation."  "  Do  you  really  believe  what  you  say?"  said  at  once 
the  Indian,  looking  them  full  in  the  face.  "  Indeed,  we  do." 
Then,  without  saying  another  word,  he  blackened  himself,  and 
taking  his  knife  and  tomahawk  in  his  hand,  made  his  way 
through  the  crowd  to  the  unhappy  victim,  crying  out  with  a  loud 
voice  :  "  What  have  you  to  do  with  my  prisoner  ?  "  and  at  once 
cutting  the  cords  with  which  he  was  tied,  took  him  to  his  house 
which  was  near  Mr.  Arundel's,  whence  he  was  forthwith  secured 
and  carried  off  by  safe  hands  to  Detroit,  where1  the  commandant, 
being  informed  of  the  transaction,  sent  him  by  water  to  Niagara, 
where  he  was  soon  afterwards  liberated.  The  Indians  who  wit 
nessed  this  act,  said  that  it  was  truly  heroic ;  they  were  so  con 
founded  by  the  unexpected  conduct  of  this  chief,  and  by  his 
manly  and  resolute  appearance,  that  they  had  not  time  to  reflect 
upon  what  they  should  do,  and  before  their  astonishment  was 
well  over,  the  prisoner  was  out  of  their  reach. 

1  For  "  where"  read  "  whence" 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

WARS  AND  THE  CAUSES  WHICH  LEAD  TO  THEM. 

is  a  fixed  principle  with  the  Indians,  that  evil  cannot 
come  out  of  good,  that  no  friend  will  injure  a  friend, 
and,  therefore,  that  whoever  wrongs  or  does  harm  to 
another,  is  his  ENEMY.     As  it  is  with  individuals,  so  it 
is  with   nations,  tribes,  and  other  independent  associations  of 
men.     If  they  commit  murder  on  another  people,  encroach  on 
their  lands,  by  making  it  a  practice  to  come  within  their  bounds 
and  take  the  game  from  them,  if  they  rob  or  steal  from  their 
hunting   camps,  or,  in    short,  are    guilty  of  any  act  of  unjust 
aggression,  they  cannot  be  considered  otherwise  than  as  ENE 
MIES  ;  they  are  declared  to  be  such,  and  the  aggrieved  nation 
think  themselves  justifiable  in  punishing  them.     If  murder  has 
been  perpetrated,  revenge  is  taken  in  the  same  way.     If  a  lesser 
injury  has   been  done,  a    message    is  sent  to  the  chief  of  the 
nation  to  which  the  wrong-doers  belong,  to  enquire  whether 
the  act  complained  of  was  authorised,  if  not  to  give  them  warn 
ing  not  to  permit  the  like  thing  to  be  done  again.     If  theft  or 
some  other  like  offence  has  been  committed,  restitution  is  at  the 
same  time  demanded,  or  such  reparation  as  the  case  admits  of, 
and  the  chiefs  are  desired  to  forbid  their  "young  people"  to  do 
so  any  more,  or  that  they  will  have  to  abide  by  the  consequence. 
There  are  tribes  among  the  Indians,  who  claim  the  exclusive 
right  of  hunting  within  certain  bounds,  and  will  not  suffer  others 
to  intrude  and  take  their  game  from  them,  as  they  call  it ;  and 
there  have  been  instances,  when    such  intruders,  being   found 
trespassing  after  a  fair  warning,  have  had  their  ears  and  noses 
cut  off,  and  have  been  sent  home  to  tell  their  chiefs  that  the 
next  time  they  came  again,  they  should  be  sent  home  without 
their  scalps.     While  the  Christian  Indians  of  the  Lenape  nation 


WARS  AND  THE  CAUSES  WHICH   LEAD   TO   THEM. 

were  settled  for  a  few  years  on  the  land  of  the  Chippeways 
beyond  Detroit,  where  they  had  taken  refuge  and  were  per 
mitted  to  remain  for  their  safety ;  though  the  Chippeways 
professed  reverence  for  them,  and  called  them  Grandfather, 
yet  they  were  continually  complaining  of  their  killing  their 
game.  They  had  no  objection  to  their  tilling  the  ground,  but 
every  deer,  racoon,  or  other  animal  which  they  killed  or  took; 
was  a  cause  of  displeasure  to  their  hosts ;  and  in  consequence 
of  that,  they  pressed  them  so  often  to  remove  from  their  lands, 
that  they  at  last  went  off. 

When  the  Indians  have  determined  to  take  revenge  for  a  mur 
der  committed  by  another  nation,  they  generally  endeavour  to 
make  at  once  a  bold  stroke,  so  as  to  strike  their  enemies  with 
terror ;  for  which  purpose,  they  penetrate  into  the  hostile 
country  as  far  as  they  can  without  being  discovered,  and  when 
they  have  made  their  stroke,  they  leave  a  war  club  near  the 
body  of  the  person  murdered,  and  make  off  as  quick  as  possi 
ble.  This  war  club  is  purposely  left  that  the  enemy  may  know 
to  what  nation  the  act  is  to  be  ascribed,  and  that  they  may 
not  wreak  their  vengeance  on  an  innocent  tribe.  It  is  meant 
also  to  let  them  know  that  unless  they  take  measures  to  dis 
cover  and  punish  the  author  of  the  original  aggression,  this 
instrument  will  be  the  means  of  revenging  the  injury,  or,  in 
other  words,  war  will  be  forthwith  declared  against  them. 

i  If  the  supposed  enemy  is  peaceably  inclined,  he  will  in  such 
case  send  a  deputation  to  the  aggrieved  nation,  with  a  suitable 
apology.  In  general  the  chief  sends  word,  that  the  act  com 
plained  of  was  committed  without  his  knowledge,  by  some  of 
"  his  foolish  young  men ; "  that  it  was  altogether  unauthorised  and 
unwarranted  ;  that  it  was  highly  reprobated  by  himself  and  his 
council,  and  that  he  would  be  sorry  that  on  that  account  a  breach 
should  be  made  between  the  two  nations,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
wishes  for  peace  ;  that  he  is  willing  to  make  reparation  for  the 
offence  by  condoling  with  the  relations  of  the  person  slain  and 
otherwise  satisfying  them.  Such  an  offer  is  generally  accepted, 
and  in  this  manner  all  differences  are  adjusted  between  the  parties, 
and  they  are  friends  again  as  they  were  before.  But  should  the 
offending  nation  refuse  to  apologise  and  sue  for  peace,  war  is  then 
immediately  declared  and  is  carried  on  with  the  greatest  vigour. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

MANNER  OF  SURPRISING  THEIR  ENEMIES. 

^URAGE,  art,  and  circumspection  are  the  essential 
and  indispensable  qualifications  of  an  Indian  warrior. 
When  war  is  once  begun,  each  one  strives  to  excel 
in  displaying  them,  by  stealing  upon  his  enemy  una 
wares,  and  deceiving  and  surprising  him  in  various  ways.  On 
drawing  near  to  an  enemy's  country,  they  endeavour  as  much  as 
possible  to  conceal  their  tracks ;  sometimes  they  scatter  them 
selves,  marching  at  proper  distances  from  each  other  for  a  whole 
day  and  more,  meeting,  however,  again  at  night,  when  they 
keep  a  watch;  at  other  times  they  march  in  what  is  called 
Indian  file,  one  man  behind  the  other,  treading  carefully  in  each 
other's  steps,  so  that  their  number  may  not  be  ascertained  by 
the  prints  of  their  feet.  The  nearer  they  suppose  themselves  to 
be  to  the  enemy,  the  more  attentive  they  are  to  choosing  hard, 
stony,  and  rocky  ground,  on  which  human  footsteps  leave  no 
impression ;  soft,  marshy  and  grassy  soils  are  particularly 
avoided,  as  in  the  former  the  prints  of  the  feet  would  be  easily 
discovered,  and  in  the  latter  the  appearance  of  the  grass  having 
been  trodden  upon  might  lead  to  detection ;  for  if  the  grass  or 
weeds  are  only  bent,  and  have  the  least  mark  of  having  been 
walked  upon,  it  will  be  almost  certainly  perceiveS,  in  which  the 
sharpness  and  quickness  of  the  Indians'  sigjtf  is  truly  astonishing. 
In  some  instances  they  deceive  theiivehemies  by  imitating  the 
cries  or  calls  of  some  animal,  such- as  the  fawn,  or  turkey.  They 
do  this  so  admirably  well,  that  they  even  draw  the  dam  of  the 
one  and  the  mate  of  the  other  to  the  spot  to  which  they  want  to 
come.  In  this  manner' they  often  succeed  in  decoying  the  ene- 
12  177 


1/8  MANNER    OF    SURPRISING    THEIR    ENEMIES. 

mies  to  the  place  where  they  are  lying  in  ambush,  or  get  an 
opportunity  of  surrounding  them.  Such  stratagems,  however, 
cannot  be  resorted  to  in  all  seasons  ;  with  the  turkey,  it  only 
answers  in  the  spring,  and  with  the  fawn's  dam  until  about  mid 
summer.  In  the  same  manner,  when  scattered  about  in  the 
woods,  they  easily  find  each  other  by  imitating  the  song  of  some 
birds,  such  as  the  quail  and  the  rook,  and  at  evening  and  morn 
ing,  and  particularly  in  the  night,  the  cry  of  the  owl.  By  this 
means  they  all  join  each  other,  though  not  at  the  same  time, 
as  they  are  not,  perhaps,  all  within  hearing ;  but  the  cry  of  the 
owl  is  repeated  from  time  to  time  until  they  are  all  assembled. 

It  is  certain  that  the  Indians,  by  the  prints  of  the  feet  and  by 
other  marks  and  signs  perceivable  only  to  themselves,  can  read 
ily  discover,  not  only  that  men  have  passed  through  a  particular 
path  or  line  of  march,  but  they  can  discriminate  to  what  partic 
ular  nation  those  men  belong,  and  whether  they  are  their  friends 
or  their  enemies.  They  also  sometimes  make  discoveries  by  ex 
amining  obscure  places,  and  by  that  means  get  informed  of  an 
enemy's  design.  Nay,  there  are  those  among  them  who  pretend 
to  be  able  to  discriminate  among  various  marks  of  human  foot 
steps  the  different  nations  of  those  to  whom  they  respectively 
belong.  I  shall  not  undertake  to  assert  thus  far,  but  I  shall 
relate  an  anecdote,  the  truth  of  which  I  firmly  believe,  in  proof 
of  their  extraordinary  sagacity  in  this  respect. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  summer  of  the  year  1755,  a  most  atro 
cious  and  shocking  murder  was  unexpectedly  committed  by  a 
party  of  Indians,  on  fourteen  white  settlers  within  five  miles  of 
Shamokin.1  The  surviving  whites,  in  their  rage,  determined  to 
take  their  revenge  by  murdering  a  Delaware  Indian  who  hap 
pened  to  be  in  those  parts  and  was  far  from  thinking  himself  in 
any  danger.  He  was  a  great  friend  to  the  whites,  was  loved  and 
esteemed  by  them,  and  in  testimony  of  their  regard,  had  received 
from  them  the  name  of  Duke  Holland?  by  which  he  was  gener- 


1  [On  the  1 8th  October,  1755,  a  party  of  Indians  fell  upon  the  settlers  on  the  Big 
Mahanoy,  (now  Penn's   Creek,  in  Union  County,  Penna.,)  killed  and  carried  oft" 
twenty-five  persons,  and  burned  and  destroyed  all  the  buildings  and  improvements. 
— Colonial  Records,  vol.  6,  p.  766.] 

2  For  "Duke  Holland'1'1  read  "Luke  Holland;"  the  same  where  the  name  again 
occurs. 


MANNER    OF    SURPRISING    THEIR    ENEMIES.  I/Q 

ally  known.  This  Indian,  satisfied  that  his  nation  was  incapable 
of  committing  such  a  foul  murder  in  a  time  of  profound  peace, 
told  the  enraged  settlers,  that  he  was  sure  that  the  Delawares 
were  not  in  any  manner  concerned  in  it,  and  that  it  was  the  act 
of  some  wicked  Mingoes  or  Iroquois,  whose  custom  it  was  to 
involve  other  nations  in  wars  with  each  other,  by  clandestinely 
committing  murders,  so  that  they  might  be  laid  to  the  charge  of 
others  than  themselves.  But  all  his  representations  were  vain  ; 
he  could  not  convince  exasperated  men  whose  minds  were  fully 
bent  upon  revenge.  At  last,  he  offered  that  if  they  would  give 
him  a  party  to  accompany  him,  he  would  go  with  them  in  quest 
of  the  murderers,  and  was  sure  he  could  discover  them  by  the 
prints  of  their  feet  and  other  marks  well  known  to  him,  by  which 
he  would  convince  them  that  the  real  perpetrators  of  the  crime 
belonged  to  the  Six  Nations.  His  proposal  was  accepted,  he 
marched  at  the  head  of  a  party  of  whites  and  led  them  into  the 
tracks.  They  soon  found  themselves  in  the  most  rocky  parts  of 
a  mountain,  where  not  one  of  those  who  accompanied  him  was 
able  to  discover  a  single  track,  nor  would  they  believe  that  man 
had  ever  trodden  upon  this  ground,  as  they  had  to  jump  over  a 
number  of  crevices  between  the  rocks,  and  in  some  instances  to 
crawl  over  them.  Now  they  began  to  believe  that  the  Indian 
had  led  them  across  those  rugged  mountains  in  order  to  give 
the  enemy  time  to  escape,  and  threatened  him  with  instant  death 
the  moment  they  should  be  fully  convinced  of  the  fraud.  The 
Indian,  true  to  his  promise,  would  take  pains  to  make  them  per 
ceive  that  an  enemy  had  passed  along  the  places  through  which 
he  was  leading  them  ;  here  he  would  shew  them  that  the  moss 
on  the  rock  had  been  trodden  down  by  the  weight  of  an  human 
foot,  there  that  it  had  been  torn  and  dragged  forward  from  its 
place :  further  he  would  point  out  to  them  that  pebbles  or  small 
stones  on  the  rocks  had  been  removed  from  their  beds  by  the 
foot  hitting  against  them,  that  dry  sticks  by  being  trodden  upon 
were  broken,  and  even  that  in  a  particular  place,  an  Indian's  blan 
ket  had  dragged  over  the  rocks,  and  removed  or  loosened  the 
leaves  lying  there,  so  that  they  lay  no  more  flat,  as  in  other 
places ;  all  which  the  Indian  could  perceive  as  he  walked  along, 
without  even  stopping.  At  last  arriving  at  the  foot  of  the  moun- 


ISO  MANNER     OF    SURPRISING    THEIR    ENEMIES. 

tain  on  soft  ground,  where  the  tracks  were  deep,  he  found  out  that 
the  enemy  were  eight  in  number,  and  from  the  freshness  of  the 
footprints,  he  concluded  that  they  must  be  encamped  at  no  great 
distance.  This  proved  to  be  the  exact  truth,  for,  after  gaining 
the  eminence  on  the  other  side  of  the  valley,  the  Indians  were 
seen  encamped,  some  having  already  laid  down  to  sleep,  while 
others  were  drawing  off  their  leggings1  for  the  same  purpose, 
and  the  scalps  they  had  taken  were  hanging  up  to  dry.  "  See !  " 
said  Duke  Holland  to  his  astonished  companions,  "there  is  the 
enemy !  not  of  my  nation,  but  Mingoes,  as  I  truly  told  you.  They 
are  in  our  power;  in  less  than  half  an  hour  they  will  all  be 
fast  asleep.  We  need  not  fire  a  gun,  but  go  up  and  tomahawk 
them.  We  are  nearly  two  to  one  and  need  apprehend  no  danger. 
Come  on,  and  you  will  now  have  your  full  revenge  !  "  But  the 
whites,  overcome  with  fear,  did  not  choose  to  follow  the  Indian's 
advice,  and  urged  him  to  take  them  back  by  the  nearest  and 
best  way,  which  he  did,  and  when  they  arrived  at  home  late  at 
night,  they  reported  the  number  of  the  Iroquois  to  have  been  so 
great,  that  they  durst  not  venture  to  attack  them. 

This  account  is  faithfully  given  as  I  received  it  from  Duke  Plot- 
land  himself,  and  took  it  down  in  writing  at  the  time.  I  had 
been  acquainted  with  this  Indian  for  upwards  of  twenty  years, 
and  knew  him  to  be  honest,  intelligent  and  a  lover  of  truth. 
Therefore  I  gave  full  credit  to  what  he  told  me,  and  as  yet  have 
had  no  reason  to  disbelieve  or  even  to  doubt  it.  I  once  em 
ployed  him  to  save  the  life  of  a  respectable  gentleman,  now 
residing  at  Pittsburg,  who  was  in  imminent  danger  of  being 
killed  by  a  war  party.  Duke  Holland  conducted  him  safely 
through  the  woods,  from  the  Muskingum  to  the  Ohio  settle 
ment.  He  once  found  a  watch  of  mine,  which  had  been  sent 
to  me  from  Pittsburg  by  a  man  who  had  got  drunk,  and  lost  it 
in  the  woods  about  fifty  miles  from  the  place  where  I  lived. 
Duke  Holland  went  in  search  of  it,  and  having  discovered  the 
tracks  of  the  man  to  whom  it  had  been  entrusted,  he  pursued 
them  until  he  found  the  lost  article,  which  he  delivered  to  me. 

1  Indian  stockings. 


CHAPTER  XXL 

PEACE    MESSENGERS. 

'HILE  the  American  Indians  remained  in  the  free  and 
undisturbed  possession  of  the  land  which  God  gave  to 
them,  and  even  for  a  long  time  after  the  Europeans 
had  settled  themselves  in  their  territory,  there  was  no 
people  upon  earth  who  paid  a  more  religious  respect  than  they 
did  to  the  sacred  character  of  the  ambassadors,  or  (as  they  call 
them)  Messengers  of  peace.  It  is  too  well  known  that  since  about 
the  middle  of  the  last  century  a  great  change  has  taken  place, 
the  cause  of  which,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  the  Indians  lay  entirely 
to  our  charge. 

The  inviolability  of  the  person  of  an  ambassador  is  one  of  those 
sacred  fundamental  principles  of  the  law  of  nature  which  the 
Almighty  Creator  has  imprinted  upon  the  heart  of  every  living 
man.  History  teaches  us  that  the  most  barbarous  and  savage 
nations  have  at  all  times  admitted  and  carried  it  into  practice. 
It  is  a  lamentable  truth  that  all  the  violations  of  it  that  stand 
upon  record,  are  to  be  ascribed  to  civilised  man  or  to  his  con 
tagious  example. 

It  is  certain  that  among  our  Indians  the  person  of  an  ambas 
sador  was  formerly  held  most  sacred  and  inviolable.  All  the 
nations  and  tribes  were  agreed  upon  this  point,  that  a  messenger, 
though  sent  by  the  most  hostile  people,  was  entitled  not  only  to 
respect  but  to  protection.  To  have,  I  will  not  say  murdered, 
but  knowingly  ill  treated  a  person  of  this  description,  was  with 
them  an  unpardonable  crime.  War  parties  were  always  instruct 
ed,  if  they  should  find  a  messenger  on  his  way  from  one  nation 

181 


l82  PEACE    MESSENGERS. 

to  another,  not  only  to  give  him  protection  but  hospitality,  and 
see  him  safely  conducted  to  the  people  to  whom  he  was  sent. 

In  the  same  manner,  when  a  messenger  was  sent  to  them  by 
a  nation  with  whom  they  were  at  war  or  at  variance,  though 
they  might  be  ever  so  much  exasperated  against  them,  and  even 
though  they  had  firmly  determined  not  to  listen,  that  is  to  say, 
not  to  consent  to  their  propositions,  whatever  they  might  be, 
still  they  would  grant  their  protection  to  the  man  of  peace,  and 
tell  him  in  their  expressive  language  "  that  they  had  taken  him 
under  their  wings,  or  placed  him  under  their  arm  pits,  where 
he  was  perfectly  safe."  It  was  with  them  a  point  of  religious 
belief,  that  pacific  messengers  were  under  the  special  protection 
of  the  Great  Spirit,  that  it  was  unlawful  to  molest  them,  and  that 
the  nation  which  should  be  guilty  of  so  enormous  a  crime  would 
surely  be  punished  by  being  unsuccessful  in  war,  and  perhaps, 
by  suffering  a  total  defeat.  Therefore,  frequent  instances  hap 
pened  of  such  messengers  being  sent  back  with  the  most  threat 
ening  messages,  such  as,  that  it  was  determined  to  wage  a  war 
of  blood  and  destruction,  and  that  no  quarter  would  be  given, 
yet  the  ambassadors  themselves  did  not  meet  with  the  least  in 
sult  or  disrespect ;  they  were  protected  during  all  the  time  that 
they  remained  in  the  hostile  country,  and  were  safely  conducted 
to  their  own  nation,  or  at  least,  so  far  on  their  way  as  to  be  out 
of  danger  from  the  enemy's  warriors,  leaving  them  a  sufficient 
time  to  reach  their  houses,  before  a  fresh  stroke  was  made,  to 
give  notice  that  the  truce  was  at  an  end  or  that  the  war  was 
begun.  I  have  heard  of  messengers  being  sent  back  with  a 
message  to  this  effect :  "  I  return  to  your  bosom,  safe  and  un 
molested,  the  messengers  you  sent  me.  The  answer  to  the 
speech  they  brought  me  from  you,  you  will  learn  from  my 
young  warriors,  who  are  gone  to  see  you."  The  nature  of  the 
visit  thus  announced  may  be  easily  guessed  at.  The  message 
was  in  fact  a  declaration  of  war,  with  a  fair  notice  that  an  inva 
sion  of  the  enemy's  country  was  immediately  to  take  place. 

Such  were  the  principles,  such  was  the  manly  conduct  of  the 
Indians  in  former  times.  How  different  it  is  at  present  I  need 
not  say.  We  yet  remember  the  unhappy  fate  of  Messrs.  True- 
man,  Freeman,  and  Hardin.  These  three  respectable  American 


PEACE    MESSENGERS.  183 

gentlemen,  were  in  the  year  1792,  sent  to  the  Indians  with  flags 
of  truce  and  peace  proposals,  and  were  all  wantonly  murdered.1 
To  whom  is  this  horrid  state  of  things  to  be  attributed  ?  I  will 
not  pretend  to  judge,  but  let  us  hear  what  the  Indians  say. 

The  principal  reasons  which  they  assign  as  having  brought 
about  this  great  change,  are  comprised  under  the  following  gen 
eral  heads. 

I.  That  the  white  people  have  intermeddled  with  their  national 
concerns,  by  dictating  to    one    nation    how   they  should  treat 
another,  and  even  how  they  should  speak  and  what  they  should 
say  to  them,  and  by  this  means  have  entirely  destroyed  their 
national  independence.     That  they  have  even  encouraged  and 
supported  one  Indian  nation  in  not  only  affecting  but  actually 
exercising  dominion  and  supremacy  over  all  the  others. 

II.  That  the  whites  have  treated  the  Indians  as  a  contemptible 
race   and  paid   no    regard  themselves    to  the   sacred   character 
of  messengers,  but  murdered  them  as  well  as  their  chiefs   in 
numerous  instances  without  distinction.     That  they  even  pol 
luted  what  among  them  is  esteemed  most  holy  and  inviolable, 
their  council  fires,  extinguishing  them  (as  they  express  them 
selves)  with  streams  of  the  best  blood  of  their  nation,  in  violation 
of  their  professions  and  most  solemn    promises !     That  their 
whole  conduct  in  short  has  appeared  as  if  they  would  say  to 
them:  "We  do  not  care  for  you;  we  despise  you  —  all  we  want 
is  your  lands,  and  those  we  will  have." 

Nor  are  they  at  a  loss  when  called  upon  to  specify  the  par 
ticular  injuries  of  which  they  complain.  Amidst  a  long  list  of 
similar  grievances,  I  shall  select  a  few  of  the  most  prominent. 

I.  The  protection  given  against  them  to  the  Iroquois,  encour 
aging  that  nation  to  insult  them,  to  treat  them  as  women  made 
such  by  conquest,  and  to  exercise  a  tyrannical  superiority  over 
them. 

1  [The  three  Commissioners  set  out  from  Fort  Washington  (Cincinnati)  for  the 
Indian  country  in  June  of  1792,  but  never  returned.  Despite  the  failure  of  this 
mission,  General  Rufus  Putnam  was  without  delay  despatched  on  a  similar  errand, 
and  at  Post  Vincennes,  on  the  Wabash,  in  September  of  the  above  mentioned  year, 
concluded  a  treaty  of  peace  with  a  number  of  the  Western  tribes.  Mr.  Heckewelder 
was  associated  by  the  War  Department  with  Putnam  in  this  perilous  undertaking.] 


184  PEACE    MESSENGERS. 

2.  The  murder  of  the  Conestogo  Indians,  at  the  very  place 
where  a  council  fire  was  burning  at  the  time ;  where  treaties  had 
been  held  with  them  in  early  times,  and  where  even  a  treaty  had 
been  concluded  in   1762,  the  year  preceding  the  murder;  and 
that  too  in  the  country  of  their  brother  Miquon  ,  in  the  Quaker 
country,  in  Pennsylvania. 

3.  The  horrid  murder  committed  between  the  years  1776  and 
I779»  on  the  great  and  much  valued  Shawano  chief  Cornstalk,  at 
Kanhawa,  where  it  was  known  that  he  was  on  a  friendly  and 
interesting  errand.1 

4.  The  firing  upon  and  severely  wounding  a  noted  Shawano 
in  the  year  1774,  while  on  his  return  from  Pittsburgh,  to  which 
place  he  had,  out  of  friendship  and  humanity,  conducted  several 
white  traders  and   protected  them  against  an  enraged  body  of 
Indians,  on  whose  relations  the  white  people  had    committed 
most  horrid  murders. 

5.  The  attacking  the  peaceable  encampment  of  the  Delaware 
chiefs  on  the  island  at   Pittsburgh,  where   one  Messenger  and 
several  others  were  murdered. 

6.  The  murder  of  the  Christian  Indians  on  Muskingum,  by 
Williamson's  party,  together  with  the  chief  from  Achsinning,  (the 
standing   stone,)    although    the   persons   thus    murdered   were 
known  to  be  friends  to  the  whites. 

The  Indians  relate  many  more  outrages  committed  on  messen 
gers,  visiters,  and  other  friendly  Indians,  of  which  I  shall  spare 
the  painful  recital  to  my  readers.  From  this  series  of  unjust  and 
cruel  acts,  the  Indian  nations,  have  at  last  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  Americans  are  in  their  hearts  inimical  to  them,  and  that 
when  they  send  them  messengers  of  peace,  they  only  mean  to 
lull  them  into  a  fancied  security,  that  they  may  the  easier  fall 
upon  and  destroy  them.  It  was  in  consequence  of  this  convic 
tion  that  the  three  respectable  gentlemen  whom  I  have  already 
mentioned,  met  with  their  unhappy  fate. 

1  [Cornstalk,  the  well-known  Shawano  king,  while  held  by  the  Americans  in  the 
fort  at  Point  Pleasant,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kanhawa,  was  murdered  by  some  soldiers 
of  the  garrison,  in  revenge  for  the  loss  of  one  of  their  companions,  who  had  met  his 
death  while  hunting,  at  the  hands  of  a  British  Indian.] 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

TREATIES. 

N  early  times,  when  Indian  nations,  after  long  and 
bloody  wars,  met  together,  for  the  purpose  of  adjust 
ing  their  differences,  or  concluding  a  peace  with  each 
other,  it  was  their  laudable  custom,  as  a  token  of 
their  sincerity,  to  remove  out  of  the  place  where  the  peace 
makers  were  sitting,  all  warlike  weapons  and  instruments  of 
destruction,  of  whatever  form  or  shape.  "  For,"  said  they,  "when 
we  are  engaged  in  a  good  work,  nothing  that  is  bad  must  be 
visible.  We  are  met  together  to  forgive  and  forget,  to  bury  the 
destructive  weapon,  and  put  it  quite  out  of  sight ;  we  cast  away 
from  us  the  fatal  instrument  that  has  caused  so  much  grief  to  our 
wives  and  children,  and  has  been  the  source  of  so  many  tears. 
It  is  our  earnest  hope  and  wish  that  it  may  never  be  dug  up 
again."  So  particular  were  they  on  this  point,  that  if  a  single 
weapon  had  been  in  sight,  while  a  treaty  was  negotiating,  it  would 
have  disturbed  their  minds  by  recalling  the  memory  of  past 
events,  and  instead,  (as  they  say)  of  gladdening  their  hearts,  by 
the  prospect  of  a  speedy  peace,  would,  on  the  contrary,  have 
filled  them  with  sorrow. 

Nor  would  they  even  permit  any  warlike  weapons  to  remain 
within  the  limits  of  their  council  fire,  when  assembled  together 
about  the  ordinary  business  of  government.  It  might,  they  said, 
have  a  bad  effect,  and  defeat  the  object  for  which  they  had  met. 
It  might  be  a  check  on  some  of  the  persons  assembled,  and  per 
haps,  prevent  those  who  had  a  just  complaint  or  representation 
to  make,  from  speaking  their  minds  freely.  William  Penn,  said 

185 


186  TREATIES. 

they,  when  he  treated  with  them,  adopted  this  ancient  mode  of 
their  ancestors,  and  convened  them  under  a  grove  of  shady  trees, 
where  the  little  birds  on  their  boughs  were  warbling  their  sweet 
notes.  In  commemoration  of  these  conferences  (which  are 
always  to  Indians  a  subject  of  pleasing  remembrance)  they  fre 
quently  assembled  together  in  the  woods,  in  some  shady  spot  as 
nearly  as  possible  similar  to  those  where  they  used  to  meet  their 
brother  Miqiton,  and  there  lay  all  his  "  words  "  or  speeches,  with 
those  of  his  descendants,  on  a  blanket  or  clean  piece  of  bark, 
and  with  great  satisfaction  go  successively  over  the  whole. 
This  practice  (which  I  have  repeatedly  witnessed)  continued 
until  the  year  1780,  when  the  disturbances  which  then  took 
place  put  an  end  to  it,  probably  for  ever. 

These  pleasing  remembrances,  these  sacred  usages  are  no 
more.  "  When  we  treat  with  the  white  people,"  do  the  Indians 
now  say,  "  we  have  not  the  choice  of  the  spot  where  the  mes 
sengers  are  to  meet.  When  we  are  called  upon  to  conclude  a 
peace,  (and  what  a  peace  ?)  the  meeting  no  longer  takes  place  in 
the  shady  grove,  where  the  innocent  little  birds  with  their  cheer 
ful  songs,  seem  as  if  they  wished  to  soothe  and  enliven  our 
minds,  tune  them  to  amity  and  concord  and  take  a  part  in  the 
good  work  for  which  we  are  met.  Neither  is  it  at  the  sacred 
council  house,  that  we  are  invited  to  assemble.  No  !  —  It  is  at 
some  of  those  horrid  places,  surrounded  with  mounds  and 
ditches,  where  the  most  destructive  of  all  weapons,  where  great 
guns  are  gaping  at  us  with  their  wide  mouths,  as  if  ready  to  de 
vour  us ;  and  thus  we  are  prevented  from  speaking  our  minds 
freely  as  brothers  ought  to  do  !  " 

How  then,  say  they,  can  there  be  any  sincerity  in  such  coun 
cils  ?  how  can  a  treaty  of  this  kind  be  binding  on  men  thus 
forced  to  agree  to  what  is  dictated  to  them  in  a  strong  prison 
and  at  the  cannon's  mouth ;  where  all  the  stipulations  are  on 
one  side,  where  all  is  concession  on  the  one  part  and  no  friend 
ship  appears  on  the  other  ?  From  these  considerations,  which 
they  urge  and  constantly  dwell  upon,  the  treaties  which  they 
make  with  the  white  men  have  lost  all  their  force,  and  they 
think  themselves  no  longer  bound  by  them  than  they  are  com 
pelled  by  superior  power.  Are  they  right  in  this  or  are  they 
wrong  ?  The  impartial  reader  must  decide. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS  OF  THE  INDIANS  ON  THE  WHITE  PEOPLE. 

'HE  Indians  believe  that  the  Whites  were  made  by  the 
same  Great  Spirit  who  created  them,  and  that  he 
assigned  to  each  different  race  of  men  a  particular 
employment  in  this  world,  but  not  the  same  to  all. 
To  the  whites  the  great  Mannitto  gave  it  in  charge  to  till  the 
ground  and  raise  by  cultivation  the  fruits  of  the  earth  ;  to  the 
Indians  he  assigned  the  nobler  employment  of  hunting,  and  the 
supreme  dominion  over  all  the  rest  of  the  animal  creation. 

They  will  not  admit  that  the  whites  are  superior  beings.  They 
say  that  the  hair  of  their  heads,  their  features,  the  various  colours 
of  their  eyes,  evince  that  they  are  not  like  themselves  Lenni 
Lenape,  an  ORIGINAL  PEOPLE,  a  race  of  men  that  has  existed  un 
changed  from  the  beginning  of  time ;  but  they  are  a  mixed  race, 
and  therefore  a  troublesome  one ;  wherever  they  may  be,  the 
Great  Spirit,  knowing  the  wickedness  of  their  disposition,  found 
it  necessary  to  give  them  a  great  Book,1  and  taught  them  how 
to  read  it,  that  they  might  know  and  observe  what  he  wished 
them  to  do  and  to  abstain  from.  But  they,  the  Indians,  have  no 
need  of  any  such  book  to  let  them  know  the  will  of  their  Maker ; 
they  find  it  engraved  on  their  own  hearts ;  they  have  had  suf 
ficient  discernment  given  to  them  to  distinguish  good  from  evil, 
and  by  following  that  guide,  they  are  sure  not  to  err. 

It  is  true,  they  confess,  that  when  they  first  saw  the  whites, 
they  took  them  for  beings  of  a  superior  kind.  They  did  not 
know  but  that  they  had  been  sent  to  them  from  the  abode  of 

1  The  Bible. 

187 


l88  GENERAL    OBSERVATIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS 

the  Great  Spirit  for  some  great  and  important  purpose.  They 
therefore,  welcomed  them,  hoping  to  be  made  happier  by  their 
company.  It  was  not  long,  however,  before  they  discovered 
their  mistake,  having  found  them  an  ungrateful,  insatiable  people, 
who,  though  the  Indians  had  given  them  as  much  land  as  was 
necessary  to  raise  provisions  for  themselves  and  their  families, 
and  pasture  for  their  cattle,  wanted  still  to  have  more,  and  at 
last  would  not  be  contented  with  less  than  the  whole  country. 
"  And  yet,"  say  those  injured  people,  "  these  white  men  would 
always  be  telling  us  of  their  great  Book  which  God  had  given  to 
them,  they  would  persuade  us  that  every  man  was  good  who 
believed  in  what  the  Book  said,  and  every  man  was  bad  who 
did  not  believe  in  it.  They  told  us  a  great  many  things,  which 
they  said  were  written  in  the  good  Book,  and  wanted  us  to  be 
lieve  it  all.  We  would  probably  have  done  so,  if  we  had  seen 
them  practise  what  they  pretended  to  believe,  and  act  according 
to  the  good  words  which  they  told  us.  But  no  !  while  they  held 
their  big  Book  in  one  hand,  in  the  other  they  had  murderous 
weapons,  guns  and  swords,  wherewith  to  kill  us,  poor  Indians  ! 
Ah !  and  they  did  so  too,  they  killed  those  who  believed  in 
their  Book,  as  well  as  those  who  did  not.  They  made  no  dis 
tinction  ! " 

They,  nevertheless,  are  sensible  that  they  have  many  friends 
among  the  white  people,  and  only  regret  that  from  their  being 
scattered  and  at  a  distance,  they  cannot  be  useful  to  them  and 
to  each  other.  Of  those  whom  they  know  to  be  their  friends, 
they  always  speak'with  warmth  and  affection.  They  also  speak 
of  the  Gentellemaan  (gentlemen)  as  a  particular  class  among  the 
whites  which  deserves  to  be  distinguished  ;  but  they  never  apply 
that  descriptive  title  to  a  person  whom  they  know  to  be  their 
enemy,  or  believe  to  be  ill  disposed  towards  them. 

The  Indians  have  a  keen  eye ;  by  looking  at  a  person,  they 
think  that  they  can  judge  of  his  friendly  or  unfriendly  dispo 
sition  to  their  race ;  and,  indeed,  it  has  been  allowed  by  many 
whites  who  have  lived  among  them,  that  they  are,  in  general, 
pretty  good  physiognomists.  They  are  very  quick  among  them 
selves  in  giving  a  name  to  a  stranger  or  person  of  note  that 
comes  to  them,  and  that  name  is  always  significant  or  descrip- 


ON    THE    WHITE    PEOPLE.  189 

tive  of  something  remarkable  which  they  have  observed  about 
his  person,  which  serves  them  to  remember  him  as  a  friend  or 
otherwise,  as  the  case  may  be ;  when  they  believe  a  person  to 
be  their  friend,  they  will  do  everything  in  their  power  to  oblige 
him,  it  being  their  principle  that  "  good  ought  always  to  be 
rewarded  with  good."  They  prefer  a  plain  man,  simple  in  his 
manners  and  who  treats  them  with  frankness  and  familiarity. 
Such  a  man,  they  say,  loves  them.  From  a  proud  haughty  man 
they  do  not  expect  friendship ;  whatever  may  be  his  professions, 
they  think  him  incapable  of  loving  anybody  but  himself,  or  per 
haps,  at  most,  his  equal,  and  that,  they  think,  an  Indian  can,  in 
his  opinion,  never  be. 

They  sometimes  amuse  themselves  by  passing  in  review  those 
customs  of  the  white  people  which  appear  to  them  most  striking. 
They  observe,  amongst  other  things,  that  when  the  whites  meet 
together,  many  of  them,  and  sometimes  all,  speak  at  the  same 
time,  and  they  wonder  how  they  can  thus  hear  and  understand 
each  other.  "  Among  us,"  they  say  "  only  one  person  speaks 
at  a  time,  and  the  others  listen  to  him  until  he  has  done,  after 
which,  and  not  before,  another  begins  to  speak."  They  say  also 
that  the  whites  speak  too  much,  and  that  much  talk  disgraces  a 
man  and  is  fit  only  for  women.  On  this  subject  they  shrewdly 
observe,  that  it  is  well  for  the  whites  that  they  have  the  art  of 
writing,  and  can  write  down  their  words  and  speeches ;  for  had 
they,  like  themselves,  to  transmit  them  to  posterity  by  means  of 
strings  and  belts  of  wampum,  they  would  want  for  their  own  use 
all  the  wampum  that  could  be  made,  and  none  would  be  left  for" 
the  Indians. 

They  wonder  that  the  white  people  are  striving  so  much  to 
get  rich,  and  to  heap  up  treasures  in  this  world  which  they  can 
not  carry  with  them  to  the  next.  They  ascribe  this  to  pride 
and  to  the  desire  of  being  called  rich  and  great.  They  say  that 
there  is  enough  in  this  world  to  live  upon,  without  laying  any 
thing  by,  and  as  to  the  next  world,  it  contains  plenty  of  every 
thing,  and  they  will  find  all  their  wants  satisfied  when  they  arrive 
there.  They,  therefore,  do  not  lay  up  any  stores,  but  merely 
take  with  them  when  they  die  as  much  as  is  necessary  for  their 
journey  to  the  world  of  spirits. 


IQO  GENERAL    OBSERVATIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS 

They  believe,  or,  at  least,  pretend  to  believe,  that  the  white 
people  have  weak  eyes,  or  are  near- sighted.  "For,"  say  they, 
"when  we  Indians  come  among  them,  they  crowd  quite  close 
up  to  us,  stare  at  us,  and  almost  tread  upon  our  heels  to  get 
nearer.  We,  on  the  contrary,  though,  perhaps,  not  less  curious 
than  they  are,  to  see  a  new  people  or  a  new  object,  keep  at  a 
reasonable  distance,  and  yet  see  what  we  wish  to  see."  They 
also  remark,  that  when  the  white  people  meet  together,  they 
speak  very  loud,  although  near  to  each  other,  from  whence  they 
conclude  that  they  must  be  hard  of  hearing.  "  As  to  us,"  they 
say,  "  we  never  speak  loud  when  we  come  together,  and  yet  we 
understand  each  other  distinctly ;  we  only  speak  in  a  high  tone 
of  voice  before  a  public  audience,  in  council,  at  the  head  of  our 
warriors,  or  when  we  are  met  together  for  some  important  pur 
pose." 

The  Indians  also  observe,  that  the  white  people  must  have  a 
great  many  thieves  among  them,  since  they  put  locks  to  their 
doors,  which  shews  great  apprehension  that  their  property  other 
wise  would  not  be  safe  :  "As  to  us,"  say  they,  "we  entertain  no 
such  fears ;  thieves  are  very  rare  among  us,  and  we  have  no 
instance  of  any  person  breaking  into  a  house.  Our  Indian  lock 
is,  when  we  go  out,  to  set  the  corn  pounder  or  a  billet  of  wood 
against  the  door,  so  that  it  may  be  seen  that  no  body  is  within, 
and  there  is  no  danger  that  any  Indian  would  presume  to  enter 
a  house  thus  secured."  Let  me  be  permitted  to  illustrate  this  by 
an  anecdote. 

In  the  year  1771,  while  I  was  residing  on  the  Big  Beaver,  I 
passed  by  the  door  of  an  Indian,  who  was  a  trader,  and  had  con 
sequently  a  quantity  of  goods  in  his  house.  He  was  going  with 
his  wife  to  Pittsburg,  and  they  were  shutting  up  the  house,  as 
no  person  remained  in  it  during  their  absence.  This  shutting 
up  was  nothing  else  than  putting  a  large  hominy  pounding- 
block,  with  a  few  sticks  of  wood  outside  against  the  door,  so 
as  to  keep  it  closed.  As  I  was  looking  at  this  man  with  atten 
tion  while  he  was  so  employed,  he  addressed  me  in  these  words: 
"  See  my  friend,  this  is  an  Indian  lock  that  I  am  putting  to  my 
door."  I  answered,  "  Well  enough ;  but  I  see  you  leave  much 
property  in  the  house,  are  you  not  afraid  that  those  articles  will 


ON    THE    WHITE    PEOPLE.  IQI 

be  stolen  while  you  are  gone  ?  " — "  Stolen !  by  whom  ?  " — "  Why, 
by  Indians,  to  be  sure." — "No,  no,"  replied  he,  "no  Indian 
would  do  such  a  thing,  and  unless  a  white  man  or  white  people 
should  happen  to  come  this  way,  I  shall  find  all  safe  on  my 
return." 

The  Indians  say,  that  when  the  white  people  encamp  in  the 
woods  they  are  sure  to  lose  something ;  that  when  they  are  gone, 
something  or  another  is  always  found  which  they  have  lost,  such 
as  a  knife,  flints,  bullets,  and  sometimes  even  money.  They  also 
observe  that  the  whites  are  not  so  attentive  as  they  are  to  choos 
ing  an  open  dry  spot  for  their  encampment;  that  they  will  at 
once  set  themselves  down  in  any  dirty  and  wet  place,  provided 
they  are  under  large  trees ;  that  they  never  look  about  to  see 
which  way  the  wind  blows,  so  as  to  be  able  to  lay  the  wood  for 
their  fires  in  such  a  position  that  the  smoke  may  not  blow  on 
them  ;  neither  do  they  look  up  the  trees  to  see  whether  there  are 
not  dead  limbs  that  may  fall  on  them  while  they  are  asleep ;  that 
any  wood  will  do  for  them  to  lay  on  their  fires,  whether  it  be  dry 
or  wet,  and  half  rotten,  so  that  they  are  involved  during  the 
whole  night  in  a  cloud  of  smoke ;  or  they  take  such  wood  as 
young  green  oak,  walnut,  cherry,  chestnut,  &c.,  which  throws 
sparks  out  to  a  great  distance,  so  that  their  blankets  and  clothes 
get  holes  burned  in  them,  and  sometimes  their  whole  camp  takes 
fire.  They  also  remark  that  the  whites  hang  their  kettles  and 
pots  over  a  fire  just  kindled,  and  before  the  great  body  of  smoke 
has  passed  away. 

They,  however,  acknowledge  that  the  whites  are  ingenious, 
that  they  make  axes,  guns,  knives,  hoes,  shovels,  pots  and  ket 
tles,  blankets,  shirts,  and  other  very  convenient  articles,  to  which 
they  have  now  become  accustomed,  and  which  they  can  no 
longer  do  without.  "  Yet,"  say  they,  "  our  forefathers  did  with 
out  all  these  things,  and  we  have  never  heard,  nor  has  any  tradi 
tion  informed  us  that  they  were  at  a  loss  for  the  want  of  them ; 
therefore  we  must  conclude  that  they  also  were  ingenious;  and, 
indeed,  we  know  that  they  were ;  for  they  made  axes  of  stone 
to  cut  with,  and  bows  and  arrows  to  kill  the  game :  they  made 
knives  and  arrows'  points  with  sharp  flint  stones  and  bones, 
hoes  and  shovels  from  the  shoulder  blade  of  the  elk  and  buffa- 


192          GENERAL    OBSERVATIONS    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

loe;  they  made  pots  of  clay,  garments  of  skins,  and  ornaments 
with  the  feathers  of  the  turkey,  goose  and  other  birds.  They 
were  not  in  want  of  anything,  the  game  was  plenty  and  tame, 
the  dart  shot  from  our  arrows  did  not  frighten  them  as  the  re 
port  of  the  gun  now  does ;  we  had  therefore  everything  that  we 
could  reasonably  require ;  we  lived  happy  !  " 

Finally,  they  think,  that  the  white  people  have  learned  much 
of  them  in  the  art  of  war;  for  when  they  first  began  to  fight  the 
Indians,  they  stood  all  together  in  a  cluster,  and  suffered  them 
selves  to  be  shot  down  like  turkies.  They  also  make  a  distinc 
tion  between  a  warrior  &D&  a  murderer,  which,  as  they  explain  it, 
is  not  much  to  our  advantage.  "  It  is  not,"  say  they,  "  the  num 
ber  of  scalps  alone  which  a  man  brings  with  him  that  prove  him 
to  be  a  brave  warrior.  Cowards  have  been  known  to  return, 
and  bring  scalps  home,  which  they  had  taken  where  they  knew 
there  was  no  danger,  where  no  attack  was  expected  and  no 
opposition  made.  Such  was  the  case  with  those  who  killed  the 
Conestogoes  at  and  near  Lancaster,  the  Christian  Indians  on 
the  Muskingum,  the  friendly  Indians  near  Pittsburg,  and  a  great 
number  of  scattered,  peaceable  men  of  our  nation,  who  were  all 
murdered  by  cowards.  It  was  not  thus  that  the  Black  Snake? 
the  great  General  Wayne  acted;  he  was  a  true  warrior  and  a 
brave  man ;  he  was  equal  to  any  of  the  chiefs  that  we  have, 
equal  to  any  that  we  ever  had." 

Thus,  the  Indians,  while  they  deeply  resent  the  wrongs  and 
injuries  which  they  have  suffered,  yet  pay  due  homage  to  worth, 
bravery,  and  military  skill,  even  in  an  enemy.  Strong  as  their 
feelings  are,  they  do  not  extinguish  their  sense  of  justice,  and 
they  are  still  generously  disposed  to  allow  that  there  are  great 
and  good  individuals  among  a  race  of  men,  who,  they  believe, 
have  doomed  them  to  utter  destruction. 

1  The  Indians  gave  this  name  to  General  Wayne,  because  they  say  that  he  had  all 
the  cunning  of  this  animal,  who  is  superior  to  all  other  snakes  in  the  manner  of  pro 
curing  his  food.  He  hides  himself  in  the  grass  with  his  head  only  above  it,  watching 
all  around  to  see  where  the  birds  are  building  their  nests,  that  he  may  know  where 
to  find  the  young  ones  when  they  are  hatched. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

FOOD  AND  COOKERY. 

[HE  principal  food  of  the  Indians  consists  of  the  game 
which  they  take  or  kill  in  the  woods,  the  fish  out  of 
the  waters,  and  the  maize,  potatoes,  beans,  pumpkins, 
squashes,  cucumbers,  melons,  and  occasionally  cab 
bages  and  turnips,  which  they  raise  in  their  fields;  they  make 
use  also  of  various  roots  of  plants,  fruits,  nuts,  and  berries  out  of 
the  woods,  by  way  of  relish  or  as  a  seasoning  to  their  victuals, 
sometimes  also  from  necessity. 

They  commonly  make  two  meals  every  day,  which,  they  say, 
is  enough.  If  any  one  should  feel  hungry  between  meal-times, 
there  is  generally  something  in  the  house  ready  for  him. 

The  hunter  prefers  going  out  with  his  gun  on  an  empty 
stomach  ;  he  says,  that  hunger  stimulates  him  to  exertion  by 
reminding  him  continually  of  his  wants,  whereas  a  full  stomach 
makes  a  hunter  easy,  careless,  and  lazy,  ever  thinking  of  his 
home  and  losing  his  time  to  no  purpose.  With  all  their  in 
dustry,  nevertheless,  and  notwithstanding  this  strong  stimulant, 
many  a  day  passes  over  their  heads  that  they  have  not  met  with 
any  kind  of  game,  nor  consequently  tasted  a  morsel  of  victuals; 
still  they  go  on  with  their  chase,  in  hopes  of  being  able  to  carry 
some  provisions  home,  and  do  not  give  up  the  pursuit  until  it  is 
so  dark  that  they  can  see  no  longer. 

The  morning  and  evening,  they  say,  are  the  precious  hours 
for  the  hunter.  They  lose  nothing  by  sleeping  in  the  middle 
of  the  day,  that  is  to  say,  between  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning 
and  four  in  the  afternoon,  except  in  dark,  cloudy,  and  rainy 
weather,  when  the  whole  day  is  nearly  equally  good  for  hunt- 
'3  193 


194  FOOD    AND    COOKERY. 

ing.  Therefore  the  hunter,  who  happens  to  have  no  meat  in 
the  house,  will  be  off  and  in  the  woods  before  daylight,  and 
strive  to  be  in  again  for  breakfast  with  a  deer,  turkey,  goose, 
bear,  or  raccoon,  or  some  other  game  then  in  season.  Mean 
while,  his  wife  has  pounded  her  corn,  now  boiling  on  the  fire, 
and  baked  her  bread,  which  gives  them  a  good  breakfast.  If, 
however,  the  husband  is  not  returned  by  ten  o'clock  in  the  fore 
noon,  the  family  take  their  meal  by  themselves,  and  his  share  is 
put  aside  for  him  when  he  comes  home. 

The  Indians  have  a  number  of  manners  of  preparing  their 
corn.  They  make  an  excellent  pottage  of  it,  by  boiling  it  with 
fresh  or  dried  meat  (the  latter  pounded),  dried  pumpkins,  dry 
beans,  and  chestnuts.  They  sometimes  sweeten  it  with  sugar  or 
molasses  from  the  sugar-maple  tree.  Another  very  good  dish  is 
prepared  by  boiling  with  their  corn  or  maize,  the  washed  ker 
nels  of  the  shell-bark  or  hickory  nut.  They  pound  the  nuts  in 
a  block  or  mortar,  pouring  a  little  warm  water  on  them,  and 
gradually  a  little  more  as  they  become  dry,  until,  at  last,  there 
is  a  sufficient  quantity  of  water,  so  that  by  stirring  up  the 
pounded  nuts  the  broken  shells  separate  from  the  liquor,  which 
from  the  pounded  kernels  assumes  the  appearance  of  milk.  This 
being  put  into  the  kettle  and  mixed  with  the  pottage  gives  it  a 
rich  and  agreeable  flavour.  If  the  broken  shells  do  not  all  freely 
separate  by  swimming  on  the  top  or  sinking  to  the  bottom,  the 
liquor  is  strained  through  a  clean  cloth,  before  it  is  put  into  the 
kettle. 

They  also  prepare  a  variety  of  dishes  from  the  pumpkin,  the 
squash,  and  the  green  French  or  kidney  beans ;  they  are  very 
particular  in  their  choice  of  pumpkins  and  squashes,  and  in  their 
manner  of  cooking  them.  The  women  say  that  the  less  water 
is  put  to  them,  the  better  dish  they  make,  and  that  it  would  be 
still  better  if  they  were  stewed  without  any  water,  merely  in  the 
steam  of  the  sap  which  they  contain.  They  cover  up  the  pots 
in  which  they  cook  them  with  large  leaves  of  the  pumpkin  vine, 
cabbages,  or  other  leaves  of  the  larger  kind.  They  make  an 
excellent  preserve  from  the  cranberry  and  crab-apple,  to  which, 
after  it  has  been  well  stewed,  they  add  a  proper  quantity  of 
sugar  or  molasses. 


FOOD    AND    COOKERY.  195 

Their  bread  is  of  two  kinds  ;  one  made  up  of  green  corn  while 
in  the  milk,  and  another  of  the  same  grain  when  fully  ripe  and 
quite  dry.  This  last  is  pounded  as  fine  as  possible,  then  sifted 
and  kneaded  into  dough,  and  afterwards  made  up  into  cakes  of 
six  inches  in  diameter  and  about  an  inch  in  thickness,  rounded 
off  on  the  edge.  In  baking  these  cakes,  they  are  extremely  par 
ticular;  the  ashes  must  be  clean  and  hot,  and  if  possible  come 
out  of  good  dry  oak  barks,  which  they  say  gives  a  brisk  and 
durable  heat.  In  the  dough  of  this  kind  of  bread,  they  fre 
quently  mix  boiled  pumpkins,  green  or  dried,  dry  beans,  or  well 
pared  chestnuts,  boiled  in  the  same  manner,  dried  venison  well 
pounded,  whortleberries,  green  or  dry,  but  not  boiled,  sugar 
and  other  palatable  ingredients.  For  the  other  kind  of  bread, 
the  green  corn  is  either  pounded  or  mashed,  is  put  in  broad 
green  corn  blades,  generally  filled  in  with  a  ladle,  well  wrapped 
up,  and  baked  in  the  ashes,  like  the  other.  They  consider  this 
as  a  very  delicate  morsel,  but  to  me  it  is  too  sweet. 

Their  Psindambcan  or  Tassmandne,  as  they  call  it,  is  the  most 
nourishing  and  durable  food  made  out  of  the  Indian  corn.  The 
blue  sweetish  kind  is  the  grain  which  they  prefer  for  that  pur 
pose.  They  parch  it  in  clean  hot  ashes,  until  it  bursts,  it  is  then 
sifted  and  cleaned,  and  pounded  in  a  mortar  into  a  kind  of  flour, 
and  when  they  wish  to  make  it  very  good,  they  mix  some  sugar 
with  it.  When  wanted  for  use,  they  take  about  a  table  spoonful 
of  this  flour  in  their  mouths,  then  stooping  to  the  river  or  brook, 
drink  water  to  it.  If,  however,  they  have  a  cup  or  other  small 
vessel  at  hand,  they  put  the  flour  in  it  and  mix  it  with  water,  in 
the  proportion  of  one  table  spoonful  to  a  pint.  At  their  camps 
they  will  put  a  small  quantity  in  a  kettle  with  water  and  let  it 
boil  down,  and  they  will  have  a  thick  pottage.  With  this  food, 
the  traveller  and  warrior  will  set  out  on  long  journeys  and 
expeditions,  and  as  a  little  of  it  will  serve  them  for  a  day,  they 
have  not  a  heavy  load  of  provisions  to  carry.  Persons  who  are 
unacquainted  with  this  diet  ought  to  be  careful  not  to  take  too 
much  at  a  time,  and  not  to  suffer  themselves  to  be  tempted  too 
far  by  its  flavour;  more  than  one  or  two  spoonfuls  at  most  at 
any  one  time  or  at  one  meal  is  dangerous ;  for  it  is  apt  to  swell 
in  the  stomach  or  bowels,  as  when  heated  over  a  fire. 


IC)6  FOOD    AND    COOKERY. 

Their  meat  they  either  boil,  roast,  or  broil.  Their  roasting  is 
done  by  running  a  wooden  spit  through  the  meat,  sharpened  at 
each  end,  which  they  place  near  the  fire,  and  occasionally  turn. 
They  broil  on  clean  coals,  drawn  off  from  the  fire  for  that  pur 
pose.  They  often  laugh  at  the  white  hunters,  for  baking  their 
bread  in  dirty  ashes,  and  being  alike  careless  of  cleanliness  when 
they  broil  their  meat.  They  are  fond  of  dried  venison,  pounded 
in  a  mortar  and  dipped  in  bear's  oil.  The  Delawares,  Mohicans, 
and  Shawanos  are  very  particular  in  their  choice  of  meats,  and 
nothing  short  of  the  most  pressing  hunger  can  induce  them  to 
eat  of  certain  animals,  such  as  the  horse,  dog,  wild  cat,  panther, 
fox,  muskrat,  wolf,  &c.,  all  which  I  have  several  times  seen  the 
Chippeways  feast  upon  with  a  seemingly  good  appetite.  The  Iro- 
quois  are  said  to  have  been  formerly  very  dirty  in  their  eating. 
They  dried  the  entrails  of  animals  without  cleaning,  or  even 
emptying  them  of  their  contents  ;  then  cut  them  into  pieces  and 
put  them  into  their  pottage,  by  way  of  seasoning.1  The  late  Mr. 
Zeisberger  has  often  related  to  me  how  he  once  mistook  for 
black  pepper  or  some  other  kind  of  spice,  a  certain  unpleasant 
ingredient  which  he  found  floating  in  small  grains  on  the  surface 
of  their  broth. 

Far  different  in  this  respect  are  the  Lenape  and  their  kindred 
tribes,  particularly  the  three  which  I  have  named  above.  They 
are  not  only  cleanly  in  their  eating,  but  even  delicate,  and  they 
will  sometimes  resist  the  pressing  calls  of  hunger  rather  than 
eat  the  flesh  of  those  animals  which  they  consider  as  not  being 
proper  food  for  man.  Of  this  I  shall  give  an  instance  in  the 
following  anecdote. 

I  was  travelling  in  the  spring  of  1773,  from  Muskingum  to  the 
Big  Beaver,  with  more  than  twenty  Indians,  five  of  whom  were 
old  men  and  the  rest  women  and  children,  all  (except  our  guide) 
strangers  to  the  country,  having  come  but  the  year  before  from 
Wyalusing  on  the  Susquehannah.  Having  been  at  one  time 
confined  two  days  by  the  overflowing  of  two  large  creeks, 
between  which  we  were,  we  found  our  provisions  at  an  end. 
Every  man  who  had  a  gun  was  called  upon  to  turn  out  into  the 


1  This  is  not  applicable  to  the  Iroquois  of  the  present  time. 


FOOD    AND    COOKERY.  197 

woods,  and  try  to  kill  something.  Their  endeavours,  however, 
were  to  no  purpose ;  the  day  passed  away,  and  they  all,  except 
.  the  well-known  Popmihank^  who  had  lost  himself,  returned  to 
camp  at  night  without  bringing  any  thing  of  the  meat  kind 
but  a  wild  cat,  which  our  guide  had  shot.  The  Indians  never 
despair,  not  even  in  the  worst  of  times  and  under  the  severest 
trials ;  when  placed  in  difficult  situations  they  never  use  dis 
couraging  language,  but  alv/ays  endeavour  to  raise  their  spirits 
and  prevent  them  from  sinking,  under  the  hardships  or  dangers  to 
which  they  are  exposed.  True  to  this  national  character,  one  of 
our  old  Indians  immediately  pronounced  this  wild  cat  to  be  "  good, 
very  good  eating,"  and  it  was  immediately  ordered  to  be  put  on  the 
spit  and  roasted  for  our  supper.  While  this  was  performing,  the 
old  Indian  endeavoured  to  divert  the  company  by  extolling  in  a 
jocular  manner  the  country  they  had  now  got  into,  and  where 
such  good  things  were  to  be  had ;  to  which  some  one  or  other 
of  the  old  men  would  reply;  "all  very  true."  At  length,  about 
nine  o'clock  at  night,  the  call  was  given  by  the  old  cook  (for  so 
I  now  call  him)  that  the  meat  was  done  and  we  might  come  in  to 
eat.  I,  who  had  heard  so  much  in  praise  of  this  repast,  being 
greatly  pinched  with  hunger,  had  kept  myself  in  readiness  for 
this  expected  call ;  but  seeing  nobody  rise,  and  observing  much 
merriment  through  the  camp,  I  began  to  suspect  that  something 
was  the  matter,  and  therefore  kept  my  seat.  The  night  was 
spent  without  any  body  attempting  to  eat  of  the  wild  cat,  and  in 
the  morning  a  different  call  was  given  by  one  of  the  old  men, 
signifying  that  a  large  kettle  of  tea  had  been  made  by  some  of 
the  good  women,  who  invited  all  to  come  and  take  their  share 
of  it.  Every  one  obeyed  this  call,  and  I  went  with  the  rest,  the 
jovial  old  cook  taking  the  roasted  wild  cat  with  him  to  the 
mess.  The  scene  was  not  only  very  diverting,  but  brought  on 
an  interesting  discussion  between  the  men  on  the  propriety  or 
impropriety  of  eating  the  flesh  of  all  animals  without  restriction, 
some  contending  that  they  were  all  by  the  will  of  the  great 

1  [A  Monsey  of  Wyalusing,  at  whose  persuasion  the  Moravian  Indians  settled  on 
that  stream  in  1765,  who  became  one  of  their  number,  following  them  to  the  Big 
Beaver  and  the  Tuscarawas,  where  he  died  in  May  of  1775.  Papunhank's  name 
occurs  frequently  in  the  annals  of  Provincial  history  between  1762  and  1765.] 


IC/S  FOOD    AND    COOKERY. 

Creator  ordained  for  some  use,  and  therefore  put  in  the  power 
of  man ;  and  how  were  we  to  know  which  were  intended  for  our 
nourishment  and  which  not?  The  old  cook  had  himself  taken 
that  position,  adding  that  the  hog  and  the  bear  fed  on  dirty  things, 
and  yet  we  ate  their  meat  with  a  good  appetite.  The  cat,  how 
ever,  notwithstanding  all  the  arguments  in  its  favour,  remained 
untouched,  and  was  taken  back  by  the  old  hunter  and  cook  to 
its  former  place  at  his  fire. 

But  now,  Popunhank,  whom  we  believed  to  be  lost,  and  our 
guide,  who  once  more  had  gone  out,  and  exerted  himself  in  vain 
to  kill  a  deer,  came  in  together.  The  guide  had  been  desired  as 
he  pursued  his  hunt  to  look  for  our  lost  companion,  and  had  the 
good  luck  to  find  him  at  the  distance  of  five  or  six  miles,  with  a 
fine  deer  that  he  had  killed.  He  lost  no  time  in'  bringing  him 
back  to  our  camp. 

The  sight  of  these  two  men  dragging  a  large  deer  along  was 
truly  joyful  to  us,  as  well  on  account  of  the  recovery  of  our  lost 
friend,  as  of  the  meat  that  he  brought.  All  felt  the  cravings  of 
hunger,  all  were  delighted  with  the  certain  prospect  of  imme 
diate  relief,  yet  no  boisterous  or  extraordinary  rejoicing  took 
place,  but  all  called  out  with  one  voice :  Anischi !  Anischi!  we 
are  thankful.  The  wild  cat,  which  yet  remained  untouched, 
was  thrown  out  of  the  camp,  and  dismissed  by  the  old  cook 
with  these  words  :  "  Go,  cat,  we  do  not  want  you  this  time !" 

The  woods  and  waters,  at  certain  times  and  seasons,  furnish  to 
the  Indians  an  abundant  supply  of  wholesome  nourishing  food, 
which,  if  carefully  gathered,  cured  and  stored  up,  would  serve 
them  for  the  whole  year,  so  that  none  need  perish  or  even  suffer 
from  hunger;  but  they  are  not  accustomed  to  laying  in  stores  of 
provisions,  except  some  Indian  corn,  dry  beans  and  a  few  other 
articles.  Hence  they  are  sometimes  reduced  to  great  straits, 
and  not  seldom  in  absolute  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life, 
especially  in  the  time  of  war.  Yet,  notwithstanding  the  numer 
ous  famines  they  have  been  visited  with,  they  have  among  their 
traditions  but  one  instance  on  record  in  which  an  human  life 
was  taken  for  the  support  of  others,  although  they  relate  many 
cases  in  which  numbers  of  them  were  actually  starved  to  death. 
The  case  I  allude  to  was  so  singular  a  circumstance,  that  it 


FOOD    AND    COOKERY.  199 

seems  the  cruel  act  to  which  it  gave  rise  was  almost  unavoida 
ble.  I  shall  relate  it  here  as  I  have  received  it  from  the  most 
unquestionable  authority. 

In  the  winter  of  1739-40,  ever  since  remembered  as  the  hard 
winter,  when  the  ground  was  covered  with  a  very  deep  snow,  a 
woman  with  three  children,  was  coming  from  beyond  the 
Alleghany  mountains  on  a  visit  to  her  friends  or  relations  re 
siding  at  the  great  island  on  the  west  branch  of  the  Susque- 
hannah.  After  she  had  reached  that  river  somewhere  about 
Achtschingi  Clammui,  which  the  whites  have  corrupted  into 
Chingleclamoose?  the  snow  fell  in  earlier  than  had  been  before 
known,  to  such  a  depth,  that  she  could  not  proceed  any  farther. 
She  began  with  putting  herself  and  her  children  on  short  allow 
ance,  in  hopes  that  the  weather  might  become  more  moderate, 
or  the  snow  so  hard  that  they  could  walk  over  it.  She  strove 
to  make  her  little  store  of  provisions  last  as  long  as  she  could, 
by  using  the  grass  which  grew  on  the  river's  edge,  and  certain 
barks  as  substitutes,  which  she  boiled  to  make  them  digestible ; 
but  more  snow  falling,  until  at  last  it  rose  to  the  height  of  a 
fathom  or  six  feet,  she  was  deprived  even  of  that  wretched  food, 
and  the  wolves  hovering  about  day  and  night,  often  attempting 
to  rush  into  her  little  encampment,  her  whole  time  was  taken  up 
with  procuring  wood  and  making  fires  to  prevent  herself  and 
her  children  from  being  frozen  to  death,  and  keeping  those 
voracious  animals  at  a  distance  by  throwing  out  fire-brands  to 
them.  Her  situation,  at  last,  became  intolerable.  Having  no 
alternative  but  that  of  sacrificing  one  of  her  children,  she  re 
solved  on  destroying  the  youngest,  in  order  to  preserve  the 
others  and  herself  from  the  most  dreadful  death.  After  much 
hesitation,  she  turned  away  her  eyes  and  with  a  trembling  hand 
gave  the  fatal  stroke,  filling  at  the  same  time  the  air  with  her 
loud  lamentations. —  She  now  thought  he  had  obtained  a  tem 
porary  relief,  and  that  she  might  be  able  to  support  herself  and 
her  surviving  children  until  a  change  in  the  weather  should  take 
place,  so  that  they  could  be  able  to  proceed  on  their  journey ; 

1  [The  Chinglacamoose,  now  the  Moose,  empties  into  the  Susquehannah  in  Clear- 
field  County,  Penna.] 


2OO  FOOD    AND    COOKERY. 

but  the  wolves  getting  the  scent  of  the  slaughtered  child,  became 
more  furious  than  before,  her  danger  every  moment  became  more 
imminent.  She  now  filled  the  air  with  her  cries  and  supplica 
tions  to  the  Great  Spirit  that  he  would  look  down  with  compas 
sion  on  their  awful  condition,  and  save  them  by  his  almighty 
power. —  But  still  the  danger  increased,  the  horrid  food  was 
almost  exhausted,  and  no  relief  came.  Already  she  contem 
plated  sacrificing  another  child ;  she  looked  at  each  of  them 
again  and  again  with  a  mother's  eye,  now  resolving  on  killing 
the  one,  then  changing  her  mind,  and  endeavouring  to  determine 
on  the  destruction  of  the  other;  she  hesitated,  wept,  despaired, 
and  the  children,  well  understanding  what  she  meant,  prayed 
that  they  might  all  die  together.  While  in  this  situation,  her 
hand  already  lifted  to  strike  the  fatal  stroke,  the  yell  of  two 
approaching  Indians  strikes  Iier  ear,  and  the  murderous  weapon 
falls  from  her  hand.  The  men  with  rackets  to  their  feet  now 
appear  and  the  dreadful  scene  is  at  once  closed.  They  had 
provisions  with  them.  They  made  a  pair  of  rackets  for  the 
woman  to  walk  on,  and  brought  her  and  her  children  along  in 
safety  to  the  Big  Island,  where  my  informants  resided  at  the 
time.  I  cannot  remember  whether  they  told  me  that  they  had 
gone  to  that  spot  in  consequence  of  a  dream,  or  of  some  strong 
presentiment  that  they  should  find  human  creatures  in  distress ; 
certain  I  am,  however,  that  it  was  owing  to  one  or  other  of  these 
causes. 

The  place  where  this  awful  event  took  place  was  since  called 
Enda  Mohdtink,  which  means  "  where  human  flesh  was  eaten." 
This  name  has  been  very  familiar  to  the  Indians  who  resided 
in  that  part  of  the  country. 

There  is  a  spot  of  land  at  the  edge  of  the  great  Pine  or  Beech 
Swamp,  precisely  where  it  is  crossed  by  the  road  leading  to 
Wyoming,  which  is  called  the  Hermit's  Field,  and  of  which  the 
following  account  is  given.  A  short  time  before  the  white 
people  came  into  Pennsylvania,  a  woman  from  some  cause  or 
other  had  separated  herself  from  society,  and  with  her  young 
son,  had  taken  her  abode  in  this  swamp,  where  she  remained 
undiscovered  until  the  boy  grew  up  to  manhood,  procuring  a 
livelihood  by  the  use  of  the  bow  and  arrow,  in  killing  deer, 


FOOD    AND    COOKERY.  2OI 

turkeys  and  other  animals,  planting  corn  and  vegetables,  and 
gathering  and  curing  nuts  and  berries  of  various  kinds.  When 
after  her  long  seclusion  she  again  saw  Indians,  she  was  much 
astonished  to  find  them  dressed  in  European  apparel.  She  had 
become  so  attached  to  her  place  of  abode,  that  she  again  l  re 
turned  thither  and  remained  there  for  several  y^ars.  I  was 
shewn  by  the  Indians  in  the  year  1765,  and  ctten  afterwards, 
the  corn  hills  that  she  had  made;  the  ground,  being  a  stiff  clay, 
was  not  wasted  or  worn  down,  but  was  covered  with  bushes,  and 
the  traces  of  the  labour  of  the  female  hermit  were  plainly  dis 
coverable. 

Thus  the  Indians  will  support  themselves  in  the  midst  of  the 
greatest  difficulties,  never  despairing  of  their  fate,  but  trusting  to 
their  exertions,  and  to  the  protection  of  the  Almighty.  Being 
who  created  them. 

£ 

1  Dele  again. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

UP.  ESS,  AND  ORNAMENTING  OF  THEIR  PERSONS. 


\  ancient  times,  the  dress  of  the  Indians  was  made  of 
jjfce  skins  of  animals  and  feathers.  This  clothing,  they 
say,  was  not  only  warmer,  but  lasted  much  longer 
than  any  woollen  goods  they  have  since  purchased  of 
the  white  people.  They  can  dress  any  skin,  even  that  of  the 
buffaloe,  so  that  it  becomes  quite  soft  and  supple,  and  a  good 
buffaloe  or  bear  skin  blanket  will  serve  them  many  years  with 
out  wearing  out.  Beaver  and  raccoon  skin  blankets  are  also  pli 
ant,  warm  and  durable ;  they  sew  together  as  many  of  those 
skins  as  is  necessary,  carefully  setting  the  hair  or  fur  all  the 
same  way,  so  that  the  blanket  or  covering  be  smooth,  and  the 
rain  do  not  penetrate,  but  run  off.  In  wearing  these  fur  blan 
kets  they  are  regulated  by  the  weather ;  if  it  is  cold  and  dry  the 
fur  is  placed  next  the  body,  but  in  warm  and  wet  weather,  they 
have  it  outside.  Some  made  themselves  long  frocks  of  fine  fur, 
and  the  women's  petticoats  in  the  winter  season  were  also  made 
of  them,  otherwise  of  dressed  deer  skins,  the  same  as  their  shirts, 
leggings  and  shoes.  They  say  that  shoes  made  of  dressed  bear 
skins,  with  the  hair  on  and  turned  inside,  are  very  warm,  and  in 
dry  weather,  durable.  With  the  large  rib  bones  of  the  elk  and 
buffaloe  they  shaved  the  hair  off  the  skins  they  dressed,  and 
even  now,  they  say  that  they  can  clean  a  skin  as  well  with  a 
well  prepared  rib-bone  as  with  a  knife. 

The  blankets  made  from  feathers  were  also  warm  and  durable. 
They  were  the  work  of  the  women,  particularly  of  the  old,  who 
delight  in  such  work,  and  indeed,  in  any  work  which  shews  that 

202 


DRESS,  AND   ORNAMENTING  OF  THEIR   PERSONS.       2O3 

they  are  able  to  do  their  parts  and  be  useful  to  society.  It  re 
quires  great  patience,  being  the  most  tedious  kind  of  work  I 
have  ever  seen  them  perform,  yet  they  do  it  in  a  most  ingenious 
manner.  The  feathers,  generally  those  of  the  turkey  and  goose, 
are  so  curiously  arranged  and  interwoven  together  with  thread 
or  twine,  which  they  prepare  from  the  rind  or  bark  of  the  wild 
hemp  and  nettle,  that  ingenuity  and  skill  cjfrinot  be  denied  them. 
They  show  the  same  talent  and  much  forethought  in  making 
their  Happis,  the  bands  with  which  they  carry  their  bags  and 
other  burdens ;  they  make  these  very  strong  and  lasting. 

The  present  dress  of  the  Indians  is  well  known  to  consist  in 
blankets,  plain  or  ruffled  shirts  and  leggings  for  the  men,  and 
petticoats  for  the  women,  made  of  cloth,  generally  red,  blue,  or 
black.  The  wealthy  adorn  themselves  besides  with  ribands  or 
gartering  of  various  colours,  beads  and  silver  broaches.  These 
ornaments  are  arranged  by  the  women,  who,  as  well  as  the  men, 
know  how  to  dress  themselves  in  style.  Those  of  the  men  prin 
cipally  consist  in  the  painting  of  themselves,  their  head  and  face 
principally,  shaving  or  good  clean  garments,  silver  arm  spangles 
and  breast  plates,  and  a  belt  or  two  of  wampum  hanging  to  their 
necks.  The  women,  at  the  expense  of  their  husbands  or  lovers, 
line  their  petticoat  and  blue  or  scarlet  cloth  blanket  or  covering 
with  choice  ribands  of  various  colours,  or  with  gartering,  on 
which  they  fix  a  number  of  silver  broaches,  or  small  round 
buckles.  They  adorn  their  leggings  in  the  same  manner;  their 
mocksens,  (properly  Maxen,  or  according  to  the  English  pro 
nunciation  Moxcii),  are  embroidered  in  the  neatest  manner,  with 
coloured  porcupine  quills,  and  are  besides,  almost  entirely  cov 
ered  with  various  trinkets  ;  they  have,  moreover,  a  number  of 
little  bells  and  brass  thimbles  fixed  round  their  ancles,  which, 
when  they  walk,  make  a  tinkling  noise,  which  is  heard  at  some 
distance  ;  this  is  intended  to  draw  the  attention  of  those  who 
pass  by,  that  they  may  look  at  and  admire  them. 

The  women  make  use  of  vermilion  in  painting  themselves  for 
dances,  but  they  are  very  careful  and  circumspect  in  applying 
the  paint,  so  that  it  does  not  offend  or  create  suspicion  in  their 
husbands ;  there  is  a  mode  of  painting  which  is  left  entirely  to 
loose  women  and  prostitutes. 


204      DRESS,  AND   ORNAMENTING  OF  THEIR   PERSONS. 

As  I  was  once  resting  in  my  travels  at  the  house  of  a  trader 
who  lived  at  some  distance  from  an  Indian  town,  I  went  in  the 
morning  to  visit  an  Indian  acquaintance  and  friend  of  mine.  I 
found  him  engaged  in  plucking  out  his  beard,  preparatory  to 
painting  himself  for  a  dance  which  was  to  take  place  the  ensuing 
evening.  Having  finished  his  head  dress,  about  an  hour  before 
sunset,  he  came  up,  as  he  said,  to  see  me,  but  I  and  my  com 
panions  judge^  thtft  he  came  to  be  seen.  To  my  utter  astonish 
ment,  I  saw  three  different  paintings  or  figures  on  one  and  the 
same  face.  He  had,  by  his  great  ingenuity  and  judgment  in  lay 
ing  on  and  shading  the  different  colours,  made  his  nose  appear, 
when  we  stood  directly  in  front  of  him,  as  if  it  were  very  long 
and  narrow,  with  a  round  knob  at  the  end,  much  like  the  upper 
part  of  a  pair  of  tongs.  On  one  cheek  there  was  a  red  round 
spot,  about  the  size  of  an  apple,  and  the  other  was  done  in  the 
same  manner  with  black.  The  eye-lids,  both  the  upper  and 
lower  ones,  were  reversed  in  the  colouring.  When  we  viewed 
him  in  profile  on  one  side,  his  nose  represented  the  beak  of  an 
eagle,  with  the  bill  rounded  and  brought  to  a  point,  precisely  as 
those  birds  have  it,  though  the  mouth  was  somewhat  open.  The 
eye  was  astonishingly  well  done,  and  the  head,  upon  the  whole, 
appeared  tolerably  well,  shewing  a  great  deal  of  fierceness. 
When  we  turned  round  to  the  other  side,  the  same  nose  now 
resembled  the  snout  of  a  pike,  with  the  mouth  so  open,  that  the 
teeth  could  be  seen.  He  seemed  much  pleased  with  his  execu 
tion,  and  having  his  looking-glass  with  him,  he  contemplated 
his  work,  seemingly  with  great  pride  and  exultation.  He  asked 
me  how  I  liked  it?  I  answered  that  if  he  had  done  the  work 
on  a  piece  of  board,  bark,  or  anything  else,  I  should  like  it  very 
well  and  often  look  at  it.  But,  asked  he,  why  not  so  as  it  is  ? 
Because  I  cannot  see  the  face  that  is  hidden  under  these  colours, 
so  as  to  know  who  it  is.  Well,  he  replied,  I  must  go  now,  and 
as  you  cannot  know  me  to-day,  I  will  call  to-morrow  morning 
before  you  leave  this  place.  He  did  so,  and  when  he  came  back 
he  was  washed  clean  again. 

Thus,  for  a  single  night's  frolic,  a  whole  day  is  spent  in  what 
they  call  dressing,  in  which  each  strives  to  outdo  the  other. 

When  the  men  paint  their  thighs,  legs  and  breast,  they,  gen 
erally,  after  laying  on  a  thin  shading  coat  of  a  darkish  colour, 


DRESS,  AND   ORNAMENTING  OF  THEIR   PERSONS.       2O5 

and  sometimes  of  a  whitish  clay,  dip  their  fingers'  ends  in  black 
or  red  paint,  and  drawing  it  on  with  their  outspread  fingers, 
bring  the  streaks  to  a  serpentine  form.  The  garments  of  some 
of  their  principal  actors  are  singular,  and  decorated  with  such 
a  number  of  gewgaws  and  trinkets,  that  it  is  impossible  to  give 
a  precise  description  of  them.  Neither  are  they  all  alike  in 
taste,  every  one  dressing  himself  according  to  his  fancy,  or  the 
custom  of  the  tribe  to  which  he  belongs.  While  the  women, 
as  I  have  already  said,  have  thimbles  and  little  bells  rattling  at 
their  ancles,  the  men  have  deers'  claws  fixed  to  their  braced 
garters  or  knee  bands,  and  also  to  their  .shoes,  for  the  same  pur 
pose;  for  they  consider  jingling  and  rattling  as  indispensably 
necessary  to  their  performances  in  the  way  of  dancing. 

The  notion  formerly  entertained  that  the  Indians  are  beardless 
by  nature  and  have  no  hair  on  their  bodies,  appears  now  to  be 
exploded  and  entirely  laid  aside.  I  cannot  conceive  how  it  is 
possible  for  any  person  to  pass  three  weeks  only  among  those 
people,  without  seeing  them  pluck  out  their  beards,  with  twee 
zers  made  expressly  for  that  purpose.  Before  the  Europeans 
came  into  the  country,  their  apparatus  for  performing  this  work, 
consisted  of  a  pair  of  muscle  shells,  sharpened  on  a  gritty  stone, 
which  answered  very  well,  being  somewhat  like  pincers ;  but 
since  they  can  obtain  wire,  of  which  that  of  brass  is  preferred, 
they  make  themselves  tweezers,  which  they  always  carry  with 
them  in  their  tobacco-pouch,  wherever  they  go,  and  when  at 
leisure,  they  pluck  out  their  beards  or  the  hair  above  their  fore 
heads.  This  they  do  in  a  very  quick  manner,  much  like  the 
plucking  of  a  fowl,  and  the  oftener  they  pluck  out  their  hair, 
the  finer  it  grows  afterwards,  so  that  at  last  there  appears  hardly 
any,  the  whole  having  been  rooted  out.  The  principal  reasons 
which  they  give  for  thus  plucking  out  their  beards  and  the  hair 
next  to  their  foreheads,  are  that  they  may  have  a  clean  skin  to 
lay  the  paint  on,  when  they  dress  for  their  festivals  or  dances, 
and  to  facilitate  the  tattooing  themselves,  a  custom  formerly  much 
in  use  among  them,  especially  with  those  who  had  distinguished 
themselves  by  their  valour,  and  acquired  celebrity.  They  say 
that  either  painting  or  tattooing  on  a  hairy  face  or  body  would 
have  a  disgusting  appearance. 

As  late  as  the  year  1762,  when  I  resided  at  Tuscorawas  on 


2O6      DRESS,  AND   ORNAMENTING  OF  THEIR  PERSONS. 

the  Muskingum,  tattooing  was  still  practised  by  some  Indians ; 
a  valiant  chief  of  that  village,  named  Wawtmdochwalend,  desirous 
of  having  another  name  given  him,  had  the  figure  of  a  water- 
lizard  engraved  or  tattooed  on  his  face,  above  the  chin,  when  he 
received  the  name  Twakachshawsu,  the  water-lizard.  The  pro 
cess  of  tattooing,  which  I  once  saw  performed,  is  quickly  done, 
and  does  not  seem  to  give  much  pain.  They  have  poplar  bark 
in  readiness  burnt  and  reduced  to  a  powder,  the  figures  that  are 
to  be  tattooed  are  marked  or  designed  on  the  skin ;  the  operator 
with  a  small  stick,  rather  larger  than  a  common  match,  to  the 
end  of  which  some  sharp  needles  are  fastened,  quickly  pricks 
over  the  whole  so  that  blood  is  drawn,  then  a  coat  of  this  pow 
der  is  laid  and  left  on  to  dry.  Before  the  whites  came  into  this 
country,  they  scarified  themselves  for  this  purpose  with  sharp 
flint  stones,  or  pricked  themselves  with  the  sharp  teeth  of  a  fish. 
In  the  year  1742,  a  veteran  warrior  of  the  Lenape  nation  and 
Monsey  tribe,  renowned  among  his  own  people  for  his  bravery 
and  prowess,  and  equally  dreaded  by  their  enemies,  joined  the 
Christian  Indians  who  then  resided  at  this  place.1  This  man, 
who  was  then  at  an  advanced  age,  had  a  most  striking  appear 
ance,  and  could  not  be  viewed  without  astonishment.  Besides 
that  his  body  was  full  of  scars,  where  he  had  been  struck  and 
pierced  by  the  arrows  of  the  enemy,  there  was  not  a  spot  to  be 
seen,  on  that  part  of  it  which  was  exposed  to  view,  but  what  was 
tattooed  over  with  some  drawing  relative  to  his  achievements, 
so  that  the  whole  together  struck  the  beholder  with  amazement 
and  terror.  On  his  whole  face,  neck,  shoulders,  arms,  thighs 
and  legs,  as  well  as  on  his  breast  and  back,  were  represented 
scenes  of  the  various  actions  and  engagements  he  had  been  in  ; 
in  short,  the  whole  of  his  history  was  there  deposited,  which 
was  well  known  to  those  of  his  nation,  and  was  such  that  all 
who  heard  it  thought  it  could  never  be  surpassed  by  man.2  Far 

1  Bethlehem. 

2  ["The  serenity  of  Michael's  countenance,"  writes  Loskiel,  "when  he  was  laid 
in  his  coffin,  contrasted  strangely  with  the  figures  scarified  upon  his  face  when  a 
warrior.     These  were  as  follows:  upon  the  right  cheek  and  temple,  a  large  snake; 
from  the  under  lip  a  pole  passed  over  the  nose,  and  between  the  eyes  and  the  top 
of  the  forehead,  ornamented  at  every  quarter  of  an  inch  with  round  marks,  repre 
senting  scalps;  upon  the  upper  cheek,  two  lances  crossing  each  other;  and  upon  the 
lower  jaw,  the  head  of  a  wild  boar."] 


DRESS,  AND   ORNAMENTING  OF  THEIR  PERSONS.       2O/ 

from. murdering  those  who  were  defenceless  or  unarmed,  his 
generosity,  as  well  as  his  courage  and  skill  in  the  art  of  war, 
was  acknowledged  by  all.  When,  after  his  conversion,  he  was 
questioned  about  his  warlike  feats,  he  frankly  and  modestly 
answered,  "  That  being  now  taken  captive  by  Jesus  Clirist,  it 
did  not  become  him  to  relate  the  deeds  he  had  done  while  in 
the  service  of  the  evil  spirit ;  but  that  he  was  willing  to  give  an 
account  in  the  manner  in  which  he  had  been  conquered''  At 
his  baptism,  on  the  23d  of  December  1742,  he  received  the  name 
of  Michael,  which  he  preserved  until  his  death,  which  happened 
on  the  23rd  of  July  1756.  He  led  the  life  of  a  true  Christian, 
and  was  always  ready  and  willing  to  relate  the  history  of  his 
conversion,  which  I  heard  myself  from  his  own  mouth.  His 
age,  when  he  died,  was  supposed  to  be  about  eighty  years. 

The  cutting  of  the  ears,  which  formerly  was  practised  among 
the  Indians,  is  now  no  longer  so  common  with  them.  Their 
reasons  for  laying  this  custom  aside,  are  that  the  operation  is 
painful,  not  only  when  performed,  but  until  the  ears  are  perfectly 
healed,  which  takes  a  long  time,  and  that  they  often  lose  that 
part  of  their  ears  which  is  separated  from  the  solid  part,  by  its 
being  torn  off  by  the  bushes,  or  falling  off  when  frost-bitten.  I 
once  heard  of  a  gay  Indian  setting  off  on  a  severe  cold  morning 
for  a  neighbouring  village  not  more  than  three  miles  distant, 
whose  ears  had  been  touched  by  the  frost,  and  dropped  off 
before  he  arrived  at  the  place  to  which  he  was  going.  He  had 
not  even  felt  that  he  had  lost  them,  and  when  told  of  it,  he  was 
so  chagrined  that  he  was  going  to  destroy  himself.  I  have  seen 
a  great  many  Indians  with  torn  ears ;  but  now  the  custom  of 
cutting  them  is  nearly  if  not  entirely  disused. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

DANCES,  SONGS,  AND    SACRIFICES. 

[HE  dances  of  the  Indians  vary  according  to  the  pur 
poses  for  which  they  are  intended.  We  have  seen, 
in  the  second  chapter  of  this  work,  that  when  the 
Dutch  first  landed  on  New  York  island,  the  inhabi 
tants  who  believed  them  to  be  celestial  beings,  began  a  solemn 
dance,  in  order  to  propitiate  them.  It  is  not  uncommon  for  men 
who  are  deprived  of  the  light  of  revealed  religion,  to  believe  that 
the  divinity  will  be  pleased  with  the  same  things  from  which 
they  themselves  receive  pleasure. 

It  is  a  pleasing  spectacle  to  see  the  Indian  dances,  when  in 
tended  merely  for  social  diversion  and  innocent  amusement.  I 
acknowledge  I  would  prefer  being  present  at  them  for  a  full 
hour,  than  a  few  minutes  only  at  such  dances  as  I  have  witnessed 
in  our  country  taverns  among  the  white  people.  Their  songs 
are  by  no  means  unharmonious.  They  sing  in  chorus ;  first  the 
men  and  then  the  women.  At  times  the  women  join  in  the 
general-  song,  or  repeat  the  strain  which  the  men  have  just 
finished.  It  seems  like  two  parties  singing  in  questions  and 
answers,  and  is  upon  the  whole  very  agreeable  and  enlivening. 
After  thus  singing  for  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  they  conclude 
each  song  with  a  loud  yell,  which  I  must  confess  is  not  in  con 
cord  with  the  rest  of  the  music;  it  is  not  unlike  the  cat-bird 
which  closes  its  pretty  song  with  mewing  like  a  cat.  I  do  not 
admire  this  finale.  The  singing  always  begins  by  one  person 
only,  but  others  soon  fall  in  successively  until  the  general  chorus 
begins,  the  drum  beating  all  the  while  to  mark  the  time.  The 

208 


DANCES,    SONGS,    AND    SACRIFICES.  2OQ 

voices  of  the  women  are  clear  and  full,  and  their  intonations 
generally  correct. 

Their  war  dances  have  nothing  engaging ;  their  object,  on  the 
contrary,  is  to  strike  terror  in  the  beholders.  They  are  dressed 
and  painted,  or  rather  bedaubed  with  paint,  in  a  manner  suitable 
to  the  occasion.  They  hold  the  murderous  weapon  in  their  hand, 
and  imitate  in  their  dance  all  the  warlike  attitudes,  motions  and 
actions  which  are  usual  in  an  engagement  with  the  enemy,  and 
strive  to  excel  each  other  by  their  terrific  looks  and  gestures. 
They  generally  perform  round  a  painted  post  set  up  for  that 
purpose,  in  a  large  room  or  place  enclosed  or  surrounded  with 
posts,  and  roofed  with  the  bark  of  trees ;  sometimes  also  this 
dance  is  executed  in  the  open  air.  There  every  man  presents 
himself  in  warrior's  array,  contemptuously  looking  upon  the 
painted  post,  as  if  it  was  the  enemy  whom  he  was  about  to  en 
gage  ;  as  he  passes  by  it  he  strikes,  stabs,  grasps,  pretends  to 
scalp,  to  cut,  to  run  through ;  in  short,  endeavours  to  shew 
what  he  would  do  to  a  real  enemy,  if  he  had  him  in  his  power. 

It  was  an  ancient  custom  among  the  Indians  to  perform  this 
dance  round  a  prisoner,  and  as  they  danced,  to  make  him 
undergo  every  kind  of  torture,  previous  to  putting  him  to  death. 
The  prisoner  appeared  to  partake  in  the  merriment,  contemp 
tuously  scoffing  at  his  executioner,  as  being  unskilled  in  the  art 
of  inflicting  torments  :  strange  as  this  conduct  may  appear,  it 
was  not  without  a  sufficient  motive.  The  object  of  the  unfortu 
nate  sufferer  was  to  rouse  his  relentless  tormentors  to  such  a 
pitch  of  fury,  that  some  of  them  might,  at  an  unguarded  moment, 
give  him  the  finishing  stroke  and  put  him  out  of  his  pain. 

Previous  to  going  out  on  a  warlike  campaign,  the  war-dance 
is  always  performed  round  the  painted  post.  It  is  the  Indian 
mode  of  recruiting.  Whoever  joins  in  the  dance  is  considered 
as  having  enlisted  for  the  campaign,  and  is  obliged  to  go  out 
with  the  party. 

After  returning  from  a  successful  expedition,  a  dance  of  thanks 
giving-  is  always  performed,  which  partakes  of  the  character  of 
a  religious  ceremony.  It  is  accompanied  with  singing  and 
choruses,  in  which  the  women  join.  But  they  take  no  part  in 
the  rest  of  the  performance.  At  the  end  of  every  song,  the 
14 


210  DANCES,    SONGS,    AND    SACRIFICES. 

scalp-yell  is  shouted  as  many  times  as  there  have  been  scalps 
taken  from  the  enemy. 

The  Indians  also  meet  occasionally  for  the  purpose  of  recount 
ing  their  warlike  exploits,  which  is  done  in  a  kind  of  half-singing 
or  recitative.  The  oldest  warrior  recites  first,  then  they  go  on  in 
rotation  and  in  order  of  seniority,  the  drum  beating  all  the  time, 
as  it  were  to  give  to  the  relation  the  greater  appearance  of  reality. 
After  each  has  made  a  short  recital  in  his  turn,  they  begin  again 
in  the  same  order,  and  so  continue  going  the  rounds,  in  a  kind 
of  alternate  chanting,  until  every  one  has  concluded.  On  these 
occasions,  great  care  must  be  taken  not  to  give  offence  by  affect 
ing  superiority  over  the  others,  for  every  warrior  feels  his  own 
consequence,  and  is  ready,  if  insulted,  to  shew  by  his  actions, 
what  he  has  performed  in  war  and  is  still  able  to  do.  I  well 
remember  an  instance  of  the  kind,  when  an  insulted  warrior 
stepped  out  of  the  circle  in  which  he  was  dancing,  and  struck 
dead  the  impudent  boaster  who  had  offended  him. 

Their  songs  are  in  general  of  the  warlike  or  of  the  tender  and 
pathetic  kind.  They  are  sung  in  short  sentences,  not  without 
some  kind  of  measure,  harmonious  to  an  Indian  ear.  The  music 
is  well  adapted  to  the  words,  and  to  me  is  not  unpleasing.  I 
would  not  attempt  to  give  an  idea  of  it  by  means  of  our  musical 
notes,  as  has  been  done  by  other  writers,  lest  I  should  be  as  un 
successful  as  those  who  have  tried  in  the  same  manner  to  de 
scribe  the  melodies  of  the  ancient  Greeks.  It  would  be  well  if 
I  could  describe  at  one  and  the  same  time  the  whole  combination 
of  effects  which  acted  upon  my  ear,  but  it  is  vain  to  endeavour 
to  do  it  partially.  It  is,  indeed,  much  the  same  with  their  po 
etry  ;  yet  I  cannot  resist  the  temptation  of  translating  as  well  as 
I  can,  the  words  of  the  Lenape's  song,  when  they  go  out  to  war. 
They  sing  it,  as  I  give  it  here,  in  short  lines  or  sentences,  not 
always  the  whole  at  one  time,  but  most  generally  in  detached 
parts,  as  time  permits  and  as  the  occasion  or  their  feelings 
prompt  them.  Their  accent  is  very  pathetic,  and  the  whole,  in 
their  language,  produces  considerable  effect. 


DANCES,  SONGS,  AND  SACRIFICES.  211 

THE  SONG  OF  THE  LENAPE  WARRIORS  GOING  AGAINST  THE  ENEMY. 

"  O  poor  me  ! 

Whom  am  going  out  to  fight  the  enemy, 
And  know  not  whether  I  shall  return  again, 
To  enjoy  the  embraces  of  my  children 
And  my  wife. 
O  poor  creature ! 

Whose  life  is  not  in  his  own  hands, 
Who  has  no  power  over  his  own  body, 
But  tries  to  do  his  duty 
For  the  welfare  of  his  nation. 
O  !  thou  Great  Spirit  above  ! 
Take  pity  on  my  children 
And  on  my  wife ! 

Prevent  their  mourning  on  my  account ! 
Grant  that  I  may  be  successful  in  this  attempt  — 
That  I  may  slay  my  enemy, 
And  bring  home  the  trophies  of  war 
To  my  dear  family  and  friends, 
That  we  may  rejoice  together. 
O  !  take  pity  on  me  ! 

Give  me  strength  and  courage  to  meet  my  enemy, 
Suffer  me  to  return  again  to  my  children, 
To  my  wife 
And  to  my  relations ! 
Take  pity  on  me  and  preserve  my  life 
And  I  will  make  to  thee  a  sacrifice." 

The  song  of  the  Wyandot  warriors,  as  translated  to  me  by  an 
Indian  trader,  would  read  thus :  "  Now  I  am  going  on  an  errand 
of  pleasure  —  O  !  God,  take  pity  oh  me,  and  throw  good  fortune 
in  my  way  —  grant  that  I  may  be  successful." 
-  Thus  their  Almighty  Creator  is  always  before  their  eyes  on 
all  important  occasions.  They  feel  and  acknowledge  his  su 
preme  power.  They  also  endeavour  to  propitiate  him  by  out 
ward  worship,  or  sacrifices. 

These  are  religious  solemnities,  intended  to  make  themselves 
acceptable  to  the  Great  Spirit,  to  find  favor  in  his  sight,  and  ob 
tain  his  forgiveness  for  past  errors  or  offences.  It  is  not,  as  some 
white  persons  would  lead  us  to  believe,  that  knowing  the  Great 
Spirit  to  be  good,  they  are  under  no  apprehensions  from  his 
wrath,  and  that  they  make  sacrifices  to  the  evil  spirit,  believing 
him  alone  to  be  capable  of  doing  them  hurt.  This  cannot  be  true 


212  DANCES,    SONGS,    AND    SACRIFICES. 

of  a  people,  who,  as  I  have  already  said  in  another  part,  hold  it 
as  a  fixed  principle  "  that  good  and  evil  cannot  and  must  not  be 
united,"  who  declare  and  acknowledge  the  great  and  good  Spirit 
to  be  "  all  powerful,"  and  the  evil  one  to  be  "  weak  and  limited 
in  power;"  who  rely  alone  on  the  goodness  of  the  author  of 
their  existence,  and  who,  before  every  thing,  seek  by  all  the 
means  in  their  power  to  obtain  his  favour  and  protection.  For, 
they  are  convinced,  that  the  evil  spirit  has  no  power  over  them, 
as  long  as  they  are  in  favour  with  the  good  one,  and  to  him 
alone,  acknowledging  his  continued  goodness  to  them  and  their 
forefathers,  they  look  for  protection  against  the  Devil,  and  his 
inferior  spirits. 

It  is  a  part  of  their  religious  belief,  that  there  are  inferior 
Mannittos,  to  whom  the  great  and  good  Being  has  given  the  rule 
and  command  over  the  elements ;  that  being  so  great,  he,  like 
their  chiefs,  must  have  his  attendants  to  execute  his  supreme 
behests;  these  subordinate  spirits  (something  in  their  nature 
between  God  and  man)  see  and  report  to  him  what  is  doing  upon 
earth ;  they  look  down  particularly  upon  the  Indians,  to  see 
whether  they  are  in  need  of  assistance,  and  are  ready  at  their 
call  to  assist  and  protect  them  against  danger. 

Thus  I  have  frequently  witnessed  Indians,  on  the  approach  of 
a  storm  or  thunder-gust,  address  the  Mannitto  of  the  air,  to 
avert  all  danger  from  them  ;  I  have  also  seen  the  Chippeways, 
on  the  Lakes  of  Canada,  pray  to  the  Mannitto  of  the  waters, 
that  he  might  prevent  the  swells  from  rising  too  high,  while  they 
were  passing  over  them.  In  both  these  instances,  they  expressed 
their  acknowledgment,  or  shewed  their  willingness  to  be  grate 
ful,  by  throwing  tobacco  in  the  air,  or  strewing  it  on  the  waters. 

There  are  even  some  animals,  which  though  they  are  not  con 
sidered  as  invested  with  power  over  them,  yet  are  believed  to  be 
placed  as  guardians  over  their  lives ;  and  of  course  entitled  to 
some  notice  and  to  some  tokens  of  gratitude.  Thus,  when  in  the 
night,  an  owl  is  heard  sounding  its  note,  or  calling  to  its  mate, 
some  person  in  the  camp  will  rise,  and  taking  some  Glicanican, 
or  Indian  tobacco,  will  strew  it  on  the  fire,  thinking  that  the 
ascending  smoke  will  reach  the  bird,  and  that  he  will  see  that 
they  are  not  unmindful  of  his  services,  and  of  his  kindness  to 


DANCES,    SONGS,    AND    SACRIFICES.  213 

them  and  their  ancestors.     This  custom  originated  from  the  fol 
lowing  incident,  which  tradition  has  handed  down  to  them. 

It  happened  at  one  time,  when  they  were  engaged  in  a  war 
with  a  distant  and  powerful  nation,  that  a  body  of  their  warriors 
was  in  the  camp,  fast  asleep,  no  kind  of  danger  at  that  moment 
being  apprehended.  Suddenly,  the  great  "  Sentinel  "  over  man 
kind,  the  oivl,  sounded  the  alarm;  all  the  birds  of  the  species 
were  alert  at  their  posts,  all  at  once  calling  out,  as  if  saying : 
"  Up  !  up  !  Danger !  Danger  !  "  Obedient  to  their  call,  every 
man  jumped  up  in  an  instant ;  when,  to  their  surprise,  they  found 
that  their  enemy  was  in  the  very  act  of  surrounding  them,  and 
they  would  all  have  been  killed  in  their  sleep,  if  the  owl  had  not 
given  them  this  timely  warning. 

But,  amidst  all  these  superstitious  notions,  the  supreme  Man- 
nitto,  the  creator  and  preserver  of  heaven  and  earth,  is  the  great 
object  of  their  adoration.  On  him  they  rest  their  hopes,  to  him 
they  address  their  prayers  and  make  their  solemn  sacrifices. 
These  religious  ceremonies  are  not  always  performed  in  the 
same  manner.  I  had  intended  to  have  given  some  details  upon 
this  subject,  but  I  find  that  it  has  been  almost  exhausted  by 
other  writers,1  although  I  will  not  pretend  to  say  that  they  are 
correct  on  every  point.  But  I  do  not  wish  to  repeat  things 
which  have  already  been  told  to  the  world  over  and  over.  There 
fore,  if  on  some  subjects,  relating  to  the  manners  and  customs 
of  the  Indians,  I  should  be  thought  to  have  passed  over  too 
quickly,  and  not  to  have  sufficiently  entered  into  particulars,  let 
it  be  understood  that  I  have  done  so  to  avoid  the  repetition  of 
what  others  have  said,  although  I  am  afraid  I  have  been  inadver 
tently  guilty  of  it  in  more  than  one  instance.  I  would  not  pre 
sume  to  communicate  my  little  stock  of  knowledge,  if  I  did  not 
think  that  it  will  add  something  to  what  is  already  known. 

I  do  not  recollect  that  it  has  already  been  mentioned,  that 
previous  to  entering  upon  the  solemnity  of  their  sacrifices,  the 
Indians  prepare  themselves  by  vomiting,  fasting,  and  drinking 
decoctions  from  certain  prescribed  plants.  This  they  do  to 
expel  the  evil  which  is  within  them,  and  that  they  may  with 

1  See  Loskiel,  part  I.,  ch.  3. 


214  DANCES,    SONGS,    AND    SACRIFICES. 

a  pure  conscience  attend  to  the  sacred  performance,  for  such  they 
consider  it.  Nor  is  the  object  of  those  sacrifices  always  the 
same  ;  there  are  sacrifices  of  prayer  and  sacrifices  of  thanks 
giving,  some  for  all  the  favours  received  by  them  and  their 
ancestors  from  the  great  Being,  others  for  special  or  particular 
benefits.  After  a  successful  war,  they  never  fail  to  offer  up  a 
sacrifice  to  the  great  Being,  to  return  him  thanks  for  having 
given  them  courage  and  strength  to  destroy  or  conquer  their 
enemies. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

SCALPING  — WHOOPS  OR  YELLS  — PRISONERS. 

|CALPING  is  a  practice  which  the  Indians  say  has 
obtained  with  their  nations  for  ages.  I  need  not 
describe  the  manner  in  which  the  operation  is  per 
formed,  it  has  been  sufficiently  done  by  others.1 
Indian  warriors  think  it  necessary  to  bring  home  the  scalps  of 
those  they  have  killed  or  disabled,  as  visible  proofs  of  their 
valour ;  otherwise  they  are  afraid  that  their  relations  of  the 
combat  and  the  account  they  give  of  their  individual  prowess 
might  be  doubted  or  disbelieved.  Those  scalps  are  dried  up, 
painted  and  preserved  as  trophies,  and  a  warrior  is  esteemed  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  them  that  he  can  shew. 

It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  the  Indians  pluck  out  all  their  hair 
except  one  tuft  on  the  crown  of  their  heads,  but  the  reason  of 
this  exception  is  not,  perhaps,  so  well  understood,  which  is  no 
other  than  to  enable  themselves  to  take  off  each  other's  scalps  in 
war  with  greater  facility.  "When  we  go  to  fight  an  enemy," 
say  they,  "  we  meet  on  equal  ground ;  and  we  take  ofT  each 
other's  scalps,  if  we  can.  The  conqueror,  whoever  he  may  be, 
is  entitled  to  have  something  to  shew  to  prove  his  bravery  and 
his  triumph,  and  it  would  be  ungenerous  in  a  warrior  to  deprive 
an  enemy  of  the  means  of  acquiring  that  glory  of  which  he  him 
self  is  in  pursuit.  A  warrior's  conduct  ought  to  be  manly,  else 
he  is  no  man."  As  this  custom  prevails  among  all  the  Indian 
nations,  it  would  seem,  as  far  as  I  have  known,  to  be  the  result 
of  a  tacit  agreement  among  them,  to  leave  the  usual  trophies  of 

1  See  Loskiel,  part  I.,  ch.  n. 

215 


2l6         SCALPING  —  WHOOPS    OR    YELLS  —  PRISONERS. 

victory  accessible  to  the  contending  warriors  on  all  sides ;  fear 
ing,  perhaps,  that  if  a  different  custom  should  be  adopted  by  one 
nation  from  motives  of  personal  safety,  or  to  destroy  the  warlike 
reputation  of  their  rivals  or  enemies,  it  might  be  easily  imitated 
on  the  other  side,  and  there  would  be  an  end  to  Indian  valour 
and  heroism.  Indeed,  it  is  certain,  that  all  the  weapons  which 
the  Indians  make  use  of  in  war  are  intended  for  offence,  they 
have  no  breast-plates,  helmets,  nor  any  arms  or  accoutrements 
of  the  defensive  kind,  and  it  is  not  the  least  remarkable  trait  in 
their  warlike  character,  that  they  make  it  even  a  point  of  honour 
to  offer  a  hold  of  their  persons  to  their  enemy,  by  which  if  he 
should  be  possessed  of  greater  skill  or  courage  than  themselves, 
he  may  not  only  the  more  easily  destroy  them,  but  is  enabled  to 
carry  home  their  bloody  spoils  as  trophies  of  his  victory. 

I  once  remarked  to  an  Indian  that  if  such  was  their  reason  for 
letting  a  tuft  of  hair  grow  on  the  top  of  their  heads,  they  might 
as  well  suffer  the  whole  to  remain,  and  I  could  not  perceive  why 
they  were  so  careful  in  plucking  it  out.  To  this  observation  he 
answered :  "  My  friend !  a  human  being  has  but  one  head,  and 
one  scalp  from  that  head  is  sufficient  to  shew  that  it  has  been  in 
my  power.  Were  we  to  preserve  a  whole  head  of  hair  as  the 
white  people  do,  several  scalps  might  be  made  out  of  it,  which 
would  be  unfair.  Besides,  the  coward  might  thus  without  danger 
share  in  the  trophies  of  the  brave  warrior,  and  dispute  with  him 
the  honour  of  victory." 

When  the  Indians  relate  their  victories,  they  do  not  say  that 
they  have  taken  so  many  "scalps"  but  so  many  "heads"  in 
which  they  include  as  well  those  whom  they  have  scalped,  but 
left  alive  (which  is  very  often  *  the  case),  and  their  prisoners,  as 
those  whom  they  have  killed.  Nor  does  it  follow,  when  they 
reckon  or  number  the  heads  of  their  prisoners,  that  they  have 
been  or  are  to  be  put  to  death. 

It  is  an  awful  spectacle  to  see  the  Indian  warriors  return  home 
from  a  successful  expedition  with  their  prisoners  and  the  scalps 
taken  in  battle.  It  is  not  unlike  the  return  of  a  victorious  army 
from  the  field,  with  the  prisoners  and  colours,  taken  from  the 
enemy,  but  the  appearance  is  far  more  frightful  and  terrific.  The 

1  For  "  very  often  "  read  "  sometimes." 


SCALPING WHOOPS    OR    YELLS  —  PRISONERS.          2I/ 

scalps  are  carried  in  front,  fixed  on  the  end  of  a  thin  pole,  about 
five  or  six  inches  l  in  length  ;  the  prisoners  follow,  and  the  war 
riors  advance  shouting  the  dreadful  scalp-yell,  which  has  been 
called  by  some  the  death-halloo,  but  improperly,  for  the  reasons 
which  I  have  already  mentioned.  For  every  head  taken,  dead 
or  alive,  a  separate  shout  is  given.  In  this  yell  or  whoop,  there 
is  a  mixture  of  triumph  and  terror ;  its  elements,  if  I  may  so 
speak,  seem  to  be  glory  and  fear,  so  as  to  express  at  once 
the  feelings  of  the  shouting  warriors,  and  those  with  which  they 
have  inspired  their  enemies. 

Different  from  this  yell  is  the  alarm-whoop,  which  is  never 
sounded  but  when  danger  is  at  hand.  It  is  performed  in  quick 
succession,  much  as  with  us  the  repeated  cry  of  Fire  !  Fire  !  when 
the  alarm  is  very  great  and  lives  are  known  or  believed  to  be  in 
danger.  Both  this  and  the  scalp-yell  consist  of  the  sounds  aw 
and  oh,  successively  uttered,  the  last  more  accented,  and  sounded 
higher  than  the  first;  but  in  the  scalp-yell,  this  last  sound  is 
drawn  out  at  great  length,  as  long  indeed  as  the  breath  will 
hold,  and  is  raised  about  an  octave  higher  than  the  former; 
while  in  the  alarm-whoop,  it  is  rapidly  struck  on  as  it  were,  and 
only  a  few  notes  above  the  other.  These  yells  or  whoops  are 
dreadful  indeed,  and  well  calculated  to  strike  with  terror,  those 
whom  long  habit  has  not  accustomed  to  them.  It  is  difficult  to 
describe  the  impression  which  the  scalp-yell,  particularly,  makes 
on  a  person  who  hears  it  for  the  first  time. 

I  am  now  come  to  a  painful  part  of  my  subject;  the  manner 
in  which  the  Indians  treat  the  prisoners  whom  they  take  in  war. 
It  must  not  be  expected  that  I  shall  describe  here  the  long  pro 
tracted  tortures  which  are  inflicted  on  those  who  are  doomed 
to  the  fatal  pile,  nor  the  constancy  and  firmness  which  the  suf 
ferers  display,  singing  their  death  songs  and  scoffing  all  the  while 
at  their  tormentors.  Enough  of  other  writers  have  painted  these 
scenes,  with  all  their  disgusting  horrors ;  nor  shall  I,  a  Christian, 
endeavour  to  excuse  or  palliate  them.  But  I  may  be  permitted 
to  say,  that  those  dreadful  executions  are  by  no  means  so  fre 
quent  as  is  commonly  imagined.  The  prisoners  are  generally 
adopted  by  the  families  of  their  conquerors  in  the  place  of  lost 
or  deceased  relations  or  friends,  where  they  soon  become  domes- 

1  For  "inches"  read  "feet." 


2l8         SCALPING  —  WHOOPS    OR    YELLS  —  PRISONERS. 

ticated,  and  are  so  kindly  treated  that  they  never  wish  themselves 
away  again.  I  have  seen  even  white  men,  who,  after  such  adop 
tion,  were  given  up  by  the  Indians  in  compliance  with  the  stipu 
lations  of  treaties,  take  the  first  opportunity  to  escape  from  their 
own  country  and  return  with  all  possible  speed  to  their  Indian 
homes ;  I  have  seen  the  Indians,  while  about  delivering  them 
up,  put  them  at  night  in  the  stocks,  to  prevent  their  escaping 
and  running  back  to  them. 

It  is  but  seldom  that  prisoners  are  put  to  death  by  burning 
and  torturing.  It  hardly  ever  takes  place  except  when  a  nation 
has  suffered  great  losses  in  war,  and  it  is  thought  necessary  to 
revenge  the  death  of  their  warriors  slain  in  battle,  or  when  wil 
ful  and  deliberate  murders  have  been  committed  by  an  enemy 
of  l  their  innocent  women  and  children,  in  which  case  the  first 
prisoners  taken  are  almost  sure  of  being  sacrificed  by  way  of 
retaliation.  But  when  a  war  has  been  successful,  or  unattended 
with  remarkable  acts  of  treachery,  or  cruelty  on  the  part  of  the 
enemy,  the  prisoners  receive  a  milder  treatment,  and  are  incor 
porated  with  the  nation  of  their  conquerors. 

Much  has  been  said  on  the  subject  of  the  preliminary  cruelties 
inflicted  on  prisoners  when  they  enter  an  Indian  village  with  the 
conquering  warriors.  It  is  certain  that  this  treatment  is  very 
severe  when  a  particular  revenge  is  to  be  exercised,  but  other 
wise,  I  can  say  with  truth,  that  in  many  instances,  it  is  rather 
a  scene  of  amusement,  than  a  punishment.  Much  depends  on 
the  courage  and  presence  of  mind  of  the  prisoner.  On  entering 
the  village,  he  is  shewn  a  painted  post  at  the  distance  of  from 
twenty  to  forty  yards,  and  told  to  run  to  it  and  catch  hold  of  it 
as  quickly  as  he  can.  On  each  side  of  him  stand  men,  women 
and  children,  with  axes,  sticks,  and  other  offensive  weapons, 
ready  to  strike  him  as  he  runs,  in  the  same  manner  as  is  done 
in  the  European  armies  when  soldiers,  as  it  is  called,  run  the 
gauntlet.  If  he  should  be  so  unlucky  as  to  fall  in  the  way,  he 
will  probably  be  immediately  despatched  by  some  person,  long 
ing  to  avenge  the  death  of  some  relation  or  friend  slain  in  battle; 
but  the  moment  he  reaches  the  goal,  he  is  safe  and  protected 
from  further  insult  until  his  fate  is  determined. 

1  For  "  of"  read  "  on." 


SCALPING — WHOOPS    OR    YELLS  —  PRISONERS. 

If  a  prisoner  in  such  a  situation  shews  a  determined  courage, 
and  when  bid  to  run  for  the  painted  post,  starts  at  once  with  all 
his  might  and  exerts  all  his  strength  and  agility  until  he  reaches 
it,  he  will  most  commonly  escape  without  much  harm,  and  some 
times  without  any  injury  whatever,  and  on  reaching  the  desired 
point,  he  will  have  the  satisfaction  to  hear  his  courage  and  bra 
very  applauded.  But  wo  to  the  coward  who  hesitates,  or  shews 
any  symptoms  of  fear !  He  is  treated  without  much  mercy,  and 
is  happy,  at  last,  if  he  escapes  with  his  life. 

In  the  month  of  April  1782,  when  I  was  myself  a  prisoner  at 
Lower  Sandusky,  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  proceed  with  a 
trader  to  Detroit,  I  witnessed  a  scene  of  this  description  which 
fully  exemplified  what  I  have  above  stated.  Three  American 
prisoners  were  one  day  brought  in  by  fourteen  warriors  from 
the  garrison  of  Fort  M'Intosh.  As  soon  as  they  had  crossed 
the  Sandusky  river,  to  which  the  village  lay  adjacent,  they  were 
told  by  the  Captain  of  the  party  to  run  as  hard  as  they  could 
to  a  painted  post  which  was  shewn  to  them.  The  youngest  of 
the  three,  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  immediately  started 
for  it,  and  reached  it  fortunately  without  receiving  a  single  blow; 
the  second  hesitated  for  a  moment,  but  recollecting  himself,  he 
also  ran  as  fast  as  he  could  and  likewise  reached  the  post  unhurt ; 
but  the  third,  frightened  at  seeing  so  many  men,  women  and 
children  with  weapons  in  their  hands,  ready  to  strike  him,  kept 
begging  the  Captain  to  spare  his  life,  saying  he  was  a  mason, 
and  he  would  build  him  a  fine  large  stone  house,  or  do  any  work 
for  him  that  he  should  please.  "  Run  for  your  life,"  cried  the 
chief  to  him,  "  and  don't  talk  now  of  building  houses  !  "  But  the 
poor  fellow  still  insisted,  begging  and  praying  to  the  Captain, 
who,  at  last  finding  his  exhortations  vain,  and  fearing  the  conse 
quences,  turned  his  back  upon  him,  and  would  not  hear  him  any 
longer.  Our  mason  now  began  to  run,  but  received  many  a 
hard  blow,  one  of  which  nearly  brought  him  to  the  ground, 
which,  if  he  had  fallen,  would  at  once  have  decided  his  fate. 
He,  however,  reached  the  goal,  not  without  being  sadly  bruised, 
and  he  was  besides  bitterly  reproached  and  scoffed  at  all  round 
as  a  vile  coward,  while  the  others  were  hailed  as  brave  men,  and 
received  tokens  of  universal  approbation. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

BODILY   CONSTITUTION   AND   DISEASES. 


Indians  are  in  general  a  strong  race  of  men.  It  is 
very  common  to  see  a  hunter  come  in  with  a  whole 
deer  on  his  back,  fastened  with  a  Happis,  a  kind  of 
band  with  which  they  carry  loads  ;  it  rests  against  the 
breast,  that  which  the  women  use  rests  against  the  forehead. 
In  this  manner  they  will  carry  a  load  which  many  a  white  man 
would  not  have  strength  enough  to  raise  from  the  ground.  An 
Indian,  named  Samuel,  once  took  the  flour  which  was  ground 
out  of  a  bushel  of  wheat  upon  his  back  at  sun-rise  within  two 
miles  from  Nazareth,  and  arrived  with  it  in  the  evening  of  the 
same  day  at  his  camp  at  Wyoming.  When  the  Indians  build 
houses,  they  carry  large  logs  on  their  shoulders  from  the  place 
where  the  tree  is  cut  down  to  where  they  are  building. 

Nevertheless,  when  put  to  agricultural  or  other  manual  labour, 
the  Indians  do  not  appear  so  strong  as  the  whites  ;  at  least,  they 
cannot  endure  it  so  long.  Many  reasons  ma)'  be  given  for  this, 
besides  their  not  being  accustomed  to  that  kind  of  work.  It  is 
probably  in  part  to  be  ascribed  to  their  want  of  substantial  food, 
and  their  intemperate  manner  of  living;  eating,  when  they  have 
it,  to  excess,  and  at  other  times  being  days  and  weeks  in  a  state 
of  want.  Those  who  have  been  brought  up  to  regular  labour, 
like  ourselves,  become  robust  and  strong  and  enjoy  good  health. 
Such  was  the  case  with  the  Christian  Indians  in  the  Moravian 
settlements. 

So  late  as  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  the  Indians 
were  yet  a  hardy  and  healthy  people,  and  many  very  aged  men 
and  women  were  seen  among  them,  some  of  whom  thought  they 

220 


BODILY    CONSTITUTION    AND    DISEASES.  221 

had  lived  about  one  hundred  years.  They  frequently  told  me 
and  others  that  when  they  were  young  men,  their  people  did 
not  marry  so  early  as  they  did  since,  that  even  at  twenty  they 
were  called  boys  and  durst  not  wear  a  breech-cloth,  as  the  men 
did  at  that  time,  but  had  only  a  small  bit  of  a  skin  hanging 
before  them.  Neither,  did  they  say,  were  they  subject  to  so 
many  disorders  as  in  later  times,  and  many  of  them  calculated 
on  dying  of  old  age.  But  since  that  time  a  great  change  has 
taken  place  in  the  constitution  of  those  Indians  who  live  nearest 
to  the  whites.  By  the  introduction  of  ardent  spirits  among  them, 
they  have  been  led  into  vices  which  have  brought  on  disorders 
which  they  say  were  unknown  before  ;  their  blood  became  cor 
rupted  by  a  shameful  complaint,  which  the  Europeans  pretend 
to  have  received  from  the  original  inhabitants  of  America,  while 
these  say  they  had  never  known  or  heard  of  it  until  the  Euro 
peans  came  among  them.  Now  the  Indians  are  infected  with 
it  to  a  great  degree ;  children  frequently  inherit  it  from  their 
parents,  and  after  lingering  for  a  few  years  at  last  die  victims 
to  this  poison. 

Those  Indians  who  have  not  adopted  the  vices  of  the  white 
people  live  to  a  good  age,  from  70  to  90.  Few  arrive  at  the  age 
of  one  hundred  years.  The  women,  in  general,  live  longer  than 
the  men. 

The  Indians  do  not  appear  to  be  more  or  less  exempt  than 
the  whites  from  the  common  infirmities  of  old  age.  I  have 
known  old  men  among  them  who  had  lost  their  memory,  their 
sight,  and  their  teeth.  I  have  also  seen  them  at  eighty  in  their 
second  childhood  and  not  able  to  help  themselves. 

The  Indian  women  are  not  in  general  so  prolific  as  those  of 
the  white  race.  I  imagine  this  defect  is  owing  to  the  vicious 
and  dissolute  life  they  lead  since  the  introduction  of  spirituous 
liquors.  Among  our  Christian  Indians,  we  have  had  a  couple 
who  had  been  converted  for  thirty  years  and  had  always  led  a 
regular  life,  and  who  had  thirteen  children.  Others  had  from 
six  to  nine.  In  general,  however,  the  Indians  seldom  have  more 
than  four  or  five  children. 

The  Indian  children,  generally,  continue  two  years  at  the 
breast,  and  there  are  instances  of  their  sucking  during  four  years. 


222  BODILY    CONSTITUTION    AND    DISEASES. 

Mothers  are  very  apt  to  indulge  their  last  child;  children  in  this 
respect  enjoy  the  same  privilege  alike. 

I  have  never  heard  of  any  nation  or  tribe  of  Indians  who  de 
stroyed  their  children,  when  distorted  or  deformed,  whether  they 
were  so  born  or  came  to  be  so  afterwards.  I  have  on  the  con 
trary  seen  very  particular  care  taken  of  such  children.  Nor  have 
I  ever  been  acquainted  with  any  Indians  that  made  use  of  arti 
ficial  means  to  compress  or  alter  the  natural  shape  of  the  heads 
of  their  children,  as  some  travellers  have,  I  believe,  pretended. 

The  disorders  to  which  the  Indians  are  most  commonly  sub 
jected  are  pulmonary  consumptions,  fluxes,  fevers  and  severe 
rheumatisms,  all  proceeding  probably  from  the  kind  of  life  they 
lead,  the  hardships  they  undergo,  and  the  nature  of  the  food  that 
they  take.  Intermitting  and  bilious  fevers  set  in  among  them 
regularly  in  the  autumn,  when  their  towns  are  situated  near 
marshy  grounds  or  ponds  of  stagnant  water,  and  many  die  in 
consequence  of  them.  I  have  observed  that  these  fevers  gener 
ally  make  their  first  appearance  in  the  season  of  the  wild  plum, 
a  fruit  that  the  Indians  are  particularly  fond  of.  Sometimes 
also  after  a  famine  or  long  suffering  for  want  of  food,  when  they 
generally  make  too  free  an  use  of  green  maize,  squashes  and 
other  watery  vegetables.  They  are  also  subject  to  a  disease 
which  they  call  the  yellow  vomit,  which,  at  times,  carries  off 
many  of  them.  They  generally  die  of  this  disease  on  the  second 
or  third  day  after  the  first  attack. 

Their  old  men  are  very  subject  to  rheumatisms  in  the  back 
and  knees  ;  I  have  known  them  at  the  age  of  50  or  60  to  be  laid 
up  for  weeks  and  months  at  a  time  on  this  account,  and  I  have 
seen  boys  10  and  12  years  of  age,  who  through  colds  or  fits  of 
sickness  had  become  so  contracted  that  they  never  afterwards 
recovered  the  use  of  their  limbs. 

Worms  are  a  very  common  disorder  among  Indian  children, 
and  great  numbers  of  them  die  from  that  cause.  They  eat  a 
great  deal  of  green  corn  when  in  the  milk,  with  beans,  squashes, 
melons,  and  the  like;  their  bellies  become  remarkably  large, 
and  it  is  probably  in  that  manner  that  the  worms  are  generated. 
I  rather  think  that  Indian  children  suffer  less  in  teething  than 
the  whites. 


BODILY    CONSTITUTION    AND    DISEASES.  223 

The  gout,  gravel,  and  scrofula  or  king's  evil,  are  not  known 
among  the  Indians.  Nor  have  I  ever  known  any  one  that  had 
the  disorder  called  the  Rickets.  Consumptions  are  very  frequent 
among  them  since  they  have  become  fond  of  spirituous  liquors, 
and  their  young  men  in  great  numbers  fall  victims  to  that  com 
plaint.  A  person  who  resides  among  them  may  easily  observe 
the  frightful  decrease  of  their  numbers  from  one  period  of  ten 
years  to  another.  Our  vices  have  destroyed  them  more  tnarr 
our  swords. 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

REMEDIES. 

>HE  Materia  Medica  of  the  Indians  consists  of  various 
roots  and  plants  known  to  themselves,  the  properties 
of  which  they  are  not  fond  of  disclosing  to  strangers. 
They  make  considerable  use  cf  the  barks  of  trees, 
such  as  the  white  and  black  oak,  the  white  walnut,  of  which 
they  make  pills,  the  cherry,  dogwood,  maple,  birch,  and  several 
others.  They  prepare  and  compound  these  medicines  in  differ 
ent  ways,  which  they  keep  a  profound  secret.  Those  prepara 
tions  are  frequently  mixed  with  superstitious  practices,  calculated 
to  guard  against  the  powers  of  witchcraft,  in  which,  unfortunate 
ly,  they  have  a  strong  fixed  belief.  Indeed,  they  are  too  apt  to 
attribute  the  most  natural  deaths  to  the  arts  and  incantations  of 
sorcerers,  and  their  medicine  is,  in  most  cases,  as  much  directed 
against  those  as  against  the  disease  itself.  There  are,  however, 
practitioners  among  them  who  are  free  from  these  prejudices,  or 
at  least  do  not  introduce  them  into  their  practice  of  the  medical 
art.  Still  there  is  a  superstitious  notion,  in  which  all  their 
physicians  participate,  which  is,  that  when  an  emetic  is  to  be 
administered,  the  water  in  which  the  potion  is  mixed  must  be 
drawn  up  a  stream,  and  if  for  a  cathartic  downwards.  This  is.  at 
least,  innocent,  and  not  more  whimsical  perhaps,  nor  more  cal 
culated  to  excite  a  smile,  than  some  theories  of  grave  and 
learned  men  in  civilised  countries. 

In  fevers  the  Indians  usually  administer  emetics  which  are 
made  up  and  compounded  in  various  ways.  I  saw  an  emetic 
once  given  to  a  man  who  had  poisoned  himself  with  the  root  of 

224 


REMEDIES.  225 

the  May  Apple.1  It  consisted  of  a  piece  of  raccoon  skin  burned 
with  the  hair  on  and  finely  powdered,  pounded  dry  beans  and 
gunpowder.  These  three  ingredients  were  mixed  with  water 
and  poured  down  the  patient's  throat.  This  .brought  on  a  severe 
vomiting,  the  poisonous  root  was  entirely  discharged  and  the 
man  cured. 

In  other  complaints,  particularly  in  those  which  proceed  from 
rheumatic  affections,  bleeding  and  sweating  are  always  the  first 
remedies  applied.  The  sweat  oven  is  the  first  thing  that  an 
Indian  has  recourse  to  when  he  feels  the  least  indisposed;  it  is 
the  place  to  which  the  weaned  traveller,  hunter,  or  warrior  looks 
for  relief  from  the  fatigues  he  has  endured,  the  cold  he  has 
caught,  or  the  restoration  of  his  lost  appetite. 

This  oven  is  made  of  different  sizes,  so  as  to  accommodate 
from  two  to  six  persons  at  a  time,  or  according  to  the  number 
of  men  in  the  village,  so  that  they  may  be  all  successively 
sei  ved.  It  is  generally  built  on  a  bank  or  slope,  one  half  of 
it  within  and  the  other  above  ground.  It  is  well  covered  on  the 
top  with  split  plank  and  earth,  and  has  a  door  in  front,  where 
the  ground  is  level  to  go  or  rather  to  creep  in.  Here,  on  the 
outside,  stones,  generally  of  about  the  size  of  a  large  turnip,  are 
heated  by  one  or  more  men  appointed  each  day  for  that  pur 
pose.  While  the  oven  is  heating,  decoctions  from  roots  or 
plants  are  prepared  either  by  the  person  himself  who  intends  to 
sweat,  or  by  one  of  the  men  of  the  village,  who  boils  a  large 
kettleful  for  the  general  use,  so  that  when  the  public  cryer  going 
his  rounds,  calls  out  Pimook !  "  go  to  sweat!  "  every  one  brings 
his  small  kettle,  which  is  filled  for  him  with  the  potion,  which 
at  the  same  time  serves  him  as  a  medicine,  promotes  a  profuse 
perspiration,  and  quenches  his  thirst.  As  soon  as  a  sufficient 
number  have  come  to  the  oven,  a  number  of  the  hot  stones  are 
rolled  into  the  middle  of  it,  and  the  sweaters  go  in,  seating 
themselves  or  rather  squatting  round  those  stones,  and  there 
they  remain  until  the  sweat  ceases  to  flow ;  then  they  come  out, 
throwing  a  blanket  or  two  about  them  that  they  may  not  catch 
cold ;  in  the  mean  while,  fresh  heated  stones  are  thrown  in  for 

1  Podophyllum  peltatum. 


226  REMEDIES. 

those  who  follow  them.  While  they  are  in  the  oven,  water  is 
now  and  then  poured  on  the  hot  stones  to  produce  a  steam, 
which  they  say,  increases  the  heat,  and  gives  suppleness  to 
their  limbs  and  joints.  In  rheumatic  complaints,  the  steam  is 
produced  by  a  decoction  of  boiled  roots,  and  the  patient  during 
the  operation  is  well  wrapped  up  in  blankets,  to  keep  the  cold 
air  from  him,  and  promote  perspiration  at  the  same  time. 

Those  sweat  ovens  are  generally  at  some  distance  from  an 
Indian  village,  where  wood  and  water  are  always  at  hand.  The 
best  order  is  preserved  at  those  places.  The  women  have  their 
separate  oven  in  a  different  direction  from  that  of  the  men,  and 
subjected  to  the  same  rules.  The  men  generally  sweat  them 
selves  once  and  sometimes  twice  a  week  ;  the  women  have  no 
fixed  day  for  this  exercise,  nor  do  they  use  it  as  often  as  the 
men. 

In  the  year  I784,1  a  gentleman  whom  I  had  been  acquainted 
with  at  Detroit,  and  who  had  been  for  a  long  time  in  an  infirm 
state  of  health,  came  from  thence  to  the  village  of  the  Christian 
Indians  on  the  Huron  river,  in  order  to  have  the  benefit  of  the 
sweat  oven.  It  being  in  the  middle  of  winter,  when  there  was  a 
deep  snow  on  the  ground,  and  the  weather  was  excessively  cold, 
I  advised  him  to  postpone  his  sweating  to  a  warmer  season  ; 
but  he  persisting  in  his  resolution,  I  advised  him  by  no  means 
to  remain  in  the  oven  longer  than  fifteen  or  at  most  twenty 
minutes.  But  when  he  once  was  in  it,  feeling  himself  comforta 
ble,  he  remained  a  full  hour,  at  the  end  of  which  he  fainted,  and 
was  brought  by  two  strong  Indians  to  my  house,  in  very  great 
pain  and  not  able  to  walk.  He  remained  with  me  until  the 
next  day,  when  we  took  him  down  in  his  sleigh  to  his  family  at 
Detroit.  His  situation  was  truly  deplorable;  -his  physicians  at 
that  place  gave  up  all  hopes  of  his  recovery,  and  he  frequently 
expressed  his  regret  that  he  had  not  followed  my  advice.  Sud 
denly,  however,  a  change  took  place  for  the  better,  and  he  not 
only  recovered  his  perfect  health,  but  became  a  stout  corpulent 

1  [Mr.  Heckewelder  was  in  this  year  residing  at  New  Gnadenhutten  on  the 
Huron  (now  the  Clinton),  Michigan,  where  the  Moravian  Missionaries  ministered  to 
their  converts  for  upwards  of  three  years,  subsequent  to  their  compulsory  evacuation 
of  the  Tuscarawas  valley.] 


REMEDIES.  227 

man,  so  that  he  would  often  say,  that  his  going  into  the  sweat 
oven  was  the  best  thing  he  had  ever  done  in  his  life  for  the 
benefit  of  his  health.  He  said  so  to  me  fifteen  years  afterwards 
when  I  saw  him  in  the  year  1798.  He  had  not  had  the  least 
indisposition  since  that  time.  He  died  about  the  year  1814,  at 
an  advanced  age. 


CHAPTER   XXX. 


PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS. 

'Y  these  names  I  mean  to  distinguish  the  good  and 
honest  practitioners  who  are  in  the  habit  of  curing 
and  healing  diseases  and  wounds,  by  the  simple  appli 
cation  of  natural  remedies,  without  any  mixture  of 
superstition  in  the  manner  of  preparing  or  administering  them. 
They  are  very  different  from  the  doctors  or  jugglers,  of  whom 
I  shall  speak  in  the  next  chapter.  In  one  point,  only,  they  seem 
to  participate  in  their  ridiculous  notions,  that  is,  in  the  different 
manner,  which  I  have  already  noticed,  of  drawing  water  up  or 
down  the  current  of  a  stream,  as  it  is  to  be  respectively  em 
ployed  as  a  vehicle  for  an  emetic  or  a  cathartic.  This  singular 
idea  prevails  generally  among  the  Indians  of  all  classes.  They 
think  that  as  the  one  remedy  is  to  work  upwards  and  the  other 
downwards,  care  should  be  taken  in  the  preparation  to  follow 
the  course  of  nature,  so  that  no  confusion  should  take  place  in 
the  stomach  or  bowels  of  the  patient. 

With  this  only  exception  the  Indian  physicians  are  perhaps 
more  free  from  fanciful  theories  than  those  of  any  other  nation 
upon  earth.  Their  science  is  entirely  founded  on  observation, 
experience  and  the  well  tried  efficacy  of  remedies.  There  are 
physicians  of  both  sexes,  who  take  considerable  pains  to  acquire 
a  correct  knowledge  of  the  properties  and  medical  virtues  of 
plants,  roots  and  barks,  for  the  benefit  of  their  fellow-men.  They 
are  very  careful  to  have  at  all  times  a  full  assortment  of  their 
medicines  on  hand,  which  they  gather  and  collect  at  the  proper 
seasons,  sometimes  fetching  them  from  the  distance  of  several 

228 


PHYSICIANS    AND    SURGEONS.  22Q 

days'  journey  from  their  homes,  then  they  cure  or  dry  them 
properly,  tie  them  up  in  small  bundles,  and  preserve  them  for 
use.  It  were  to  be  wished  that  they  were  better  skilled  in  the 
quantity  of  the  medicines  which  they  administer.  But  they  are 
too  apt,  in  general,  to  give  excessive  doses,  on  the  mistaken 
principle  that  "  much  of  a  good  thing  must  necessarily  do  much 
good" 

Nevertheless,  I  must  say,  that  their  practice  in  general  suc 
ceeds  pretty  well.  I  have  myself  been  benefited  and  cured  by 
taking  their  emetics  and  their  medicines  in  fevers,  and  by  being 
sweated  after  their  manner  while  labouring  under  a  stubborn 
rheumatism.  I  have  also  known  many,  both  whites  and  Indians, 
who  have  with  the  same  success  resorted  to  Indian  physicians 
while  labouring  under  diseases.  The  wives  of  Missionaries,  in 
every  instance  in  which  they  had  to  apply  to  the  female  phy 
sicians,  for  the  cure  of  complaints  peculiar  to  their  sex,  expe 
rienced  good  results  from  their  abilities.  They  are  also  well 
skilled  in  curing  wounds  and  bruises.  I  once  for  two  days  and 
two  nights,  suffered  the  most  excruciating  pain  from  a  felon  or 
whitlow  on  one  of  my  fingers,  which  deprived  me  entirely  of 
sleep.  I  had  recourse  to  an  Indian  woman,  who  in  less  than 
half  an  hour  relieved  me  entirely  by  the  simple  application  of  a 
poultice  made  of  the  root  of  the  common  blue  violet. 

Indeed,  it  is  in  the  cure  of  external  wounds  that  they  particu 
larly  excel.  Not  only  their  professional  men  and  women,  but 
every  warrior  is  more  or  less  acquainted  with  the  healing  prop 
erties  of  roots  and  plants,  which  is,  in  a  manner,  indispensable 
to  them,  as  they  are  so  often  in  danger  of  being  wounded  in 
their  engagements  with  the  enemy.  Hence  this  branch  of 
knowledge  is  carried  to  a  great  degree  of  perfection  among 
them.  I  firmly  believe  that  there  is  no  wound,  unless  it  should 
be  absolutely  mortal,  or  beyond  the  skill  of  our  own  good  prac- 
titioners/  which  an  Indian  surgeon  (I  mean  the  best  of  them)  will 
not  succeed  in  healing.  I  once  knew  a  noted  Shawano,  who 
having,  out  of  friendship,  conducted  several  white  traders  in 
safety  to  Pittsburgh,  while  they  were  sought  for  by  other  Indians 
who  wanted  to  revenge  on  them  the  murders  committed  by  white 
men  of  some  of  their  people,  was  on  his  return  fired  at  by  some 


23O  PHYSICIANS    AND    SURGEONS. 

white  villains,  who  had  waylaid  him  for  that  purpose,  and  shot 
in  the  breast.  This  man,  when  I  saw  him,  had  already  travelled 
eighty  miles,  with  a  wound  from  which  blood  and  a  kind  of 
watery  froth  issued  every  time  he  breathed.  Yet  he  told  me  he 
was  sure  of  being  cured,  if  he  could  only  reach  Wakctemeki,  a 
place  fifty  miles  distant,  where  there  were  several  eminent  In 
dian  surgeons.  To  me  and  others  who  examined  the  wound,  it 
appeared  incurable ;  nevertheless,  he  reached  the  place  and  was 
perfectly  cured.  I  saw  him  at  Detroit  ten  years  afterwards  ;  he 
was  in  sound  health  and  grown  to  be  a  corpulent  man.  Nine 
years  after  this  I  dined  with  him  at  the  same  place. 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

DOCTORS   OR   JUGGLERS. 

CALL  these  men  Doctors,  because  it  is  the  name 
given  them  by  their  countrymen  who  have  borrowed 
it  from  our  language,1  and  they  are  themselves  very 
fond  of  this  pompous  title.  They  are  a  set  of  profes 
sional  impostors,  who,  availing  themselves  of  the  superstitious 
prejudices  of  the  people,  acquire  the  name  and  reputation  of  men 
of  superior  knowledge,  and  possessed  of  supernatural  powers. 
As  the  Indians  in  general  believe  in  witchcraft,  and  ascribe,  as  I 
have  already  said,  to  the  arts  of  sorcerers  many  of  the  disorders 
with  which  they  are  afflicted  in  the  regular  course  of  nature,  this 
class  of  men  has  risen  among  them,  who  pretend  to  be  skilled  in 
a  certain  occult  science,  by  means  of  which  they  are  able  not 
only  to  cure  natural  diseases,  but  to  counteract  or  destroy  the 
enchantments  of  wizards  or  witches,  and  expel  evil  spirits. 

These  men  are  physicians,  like  the  others  of  whom  I  have 
spoken,  and  like  them  are  acquainted  with  the  properties  and 
virtues  of  plants,  barks,  roots,  and  other  remedies.  They  differ 
from  them  only  by  their  pretensions  to  a  superior  knowledge, 
and  by  the  impudence  with  which  they  impose  upon  the  credu 
lous.  I  am  sorry  that  truth  obliges  me  to  confess,  that  in  their 
profession  they  rank  above  the  honest  practitioners.  They  pre 
tend  that  there  are  disorders  which  cannot  be  cured  by  the  ordi 
nary  remedies,  and  to  the  treatment  of  which  the  talents  of 

1  They  call  them  Doctols ;  because  the  Indians  cannot  pronounce  the  letter  P 
The  Minsi  or  Monseys  call  them  "Medeu,"  which  signifies  "  conjuror." 

231 


232  DOCTORS    OR    JUGGLERS. 

common  physicians  are  inadequate.  They  say  that  when  a  com 
plaint  has  been  brought  on  by  witchcraft,  more  powerful  reme 
dies  must  be  applied,  and  measures  must  be  taken  to  defeat  the 
designs  of  the  person  who  bewitched  the  unfortunate  patient. 
This  can  only  be  done  by  removing  or  destroying  the  deleteri 
ous  or  deadening  substance  which  has  been  conveyed  into  them, 
or,  if  it  is  an  evil  spirit,  to  confine  or  expel  him,  or  banish  him 
to  a  distant  region  from  whence  he  may  never  return. 

When  the  juggler  has  succeeded  in  persuading  his  patient  that 
his  disorder  is  such  that  no  common  physician  has  it  in  his 
power  to  relieve,  he  will  next  endeavour  to  convince  him  of  the 
necessity  of  making  him  very  strong,  which  means,  giving  him  a 
large  fee,  which  he  will  say,  is  justly  due  to  a  man  who,  like 
himself,  is  able  to  perform  such  difficult  things.  If  the  patient 
who  applies,  is  rich,  the  Doctor -will  never  fail,  whatever  the  com 
plaint  may  be,  to  ascribe  it  to  the  powers  of  witchcraft,  and 
recommend  himself  as  the  only  person  capable  of  giving  relief 
in  such  a  hard  and  complicated  case.  The  poor  patient,  there 
fore,  if  he  will  have  the  benefit  of  the  great  man's  advice  and 
assistance,  must  immediately  give  him  his  honorarium,  which  is 
commonly  either  a  fine  horse,  or  a  good  rifle-gun,  a  considerable 
quantity  of  wampum,  or  goods  to  a  handsome  amount.  When 
this  fee  is  well  secured,  and  not  before,  the  Doctor  prepares  for 
the  hard  task  that  he  has  undertaken,  with  as  much  apparent 
labour  as  if  he  was  about  to  remove  a  mountain.  He  casts  his 
eyes  all  round  him  to  attract  notice,  puts  on  grave  and  important 
looks,  appears  wrapt  in  thought  and  meditation  and  enjoys  for 
a  while  the  admiration  of  the  spectators.  At  last  he  begins  his 
operation.  Attired  in  a  frightful  dress,  he  approaches  his  patient, 
with  a  variety  of  contortions  and  gestures,  and  performs  by  his 
side  and  over  him  all  the  antic  tricks  that  his  imagination  can 
suggest.  He  breathes  on  him,  blows  in  his  mouth,  and  squirts 
some  medicines  which  he  has  prepared  in  his  face,  mouth  and 
nose  ;  he  rattles  his  gourd  filled  with  dry  beans  or  pebbles,  pulls 
out  and  handles  about  a  variety  of  sticks  and  bundles  in  which 
he  appears  to  be  seeking  for  the  proper  remedy,  all  which  is 
accompanied  with  the  most  horrid  gesticulations,  by  which  he 
endeavours,  as  he  says,  to  frighten  the  spirit  or  the  disorder 


DOCTORS    OR    JUGGLERS.  233 

away,  and  continues  in  this  manner  until  he  is  quite  exhausted 
and  out  of  breath,  when  he  retires  to  wait  the  issue. 

The  visits  of  the  juggler  are,  if  the  patient  requires  it,  repeated 
from  time  to  time ;  not,  however,  without  his  giving  a  fresh  fee 
previous  to  each  visit.  This  continues  until  the  property  of  the 
patient  is  entirely  exhausted,  or  until  he  resolves  upon  calling 
in  another  doctor,  with  whom  feeing  must  begin  anew  in  the 
same  manner  that  it  did  with  his  predecessor. 

When  at  length  the  art  of  the  juggling  tribe  has  after  repeated 
trials  proved  ineffectual,  the  patient  is  declared  incurable.  The 
doctors  will  say,  that  he  applied  to  them  too  late,  that  he  did 
not  exactly  follow  their  prescriptions,  or  sometimes,  that  he 
was  bewitched  by  one  of  the  greatest  masters  of  the  science, 
and  that  unless  a  professor  can  be  found  possessed  of  superior 
knowledge,  he  is  doomed  to  die  or  linger  in  pain  beyond  the 
power  of  relief. 

Thus  these  jugglers  carry  on  their  deceit,  and  enrich  them 
selves  at  the  expense  of  the  credulous  and  foolish.  I  have 
known  instances  in  which  they  declared  a  patient  perfectly 
cured  and  out  of  all  danger,  who  nevertheless  died  of  his  dis 
order  a  very  few  days  afterwards,  although  his  docters  affirmed 
that  the  evil  spirit  or  the  effects  of  witchcraft  were  entirely 
removed  from  him ;  on  the  other  hand,  I  have  seen  cases  in 
which  the  patient  recovered  after  being  pronounced  incurable 
and  condemned  to  die.  In  those  cases,  however,  he  had  had  the 
good  sense  to  apply  to  some  of  the  honest  physicians  of  one 
or  the  other  sex,  who  had  relieved  him  by  a  successful  appli 
cation  of  their  medicines. 

The  jugglers'  dress,  when  in  the  exercise  of  their  functions, 
exhibits  a  most  frightful  sight.  I  had  no  idea  of  the  import 
ance  of  these  men,  until  by  accident  I  met  with  one,  habited  in 
his  full  costume.  As  I  was  once  walking  through  the  street 
of  a  large  Indian  village  on  the  Muskingum,  with  the.  chief 
Gelelemend*  whom  we  call  Kill-buck,  one  of  those  monsters 

1  [Gelelemend,?.  <?.,  a  leader,  (whose  soubriquet  among  the,  whites  was  Kill-buck,) 
a  grandson  of  the  well-known  Netawatwes,  was  sometime  chief  counsellor  of  the 
Turkey  tribe  of  the  Delaware  nation,  and  after  the  death  of  Captain  White  Eyes, 
installed  temporarily  as  principal  chief.  He  was  a  strenuous  advocate  of  peace 


234  DOCTORS    OR    JUGGLERS. 

suddenly  came  out  of  the  house  next  to  me,  at  whose  sight  I 
was  so  frightened,  that  I  flew  immediately  to  the  other  side  of 
the  chief,  who  observing  my  agitation  and  the  quick  strides  I 
made,  asked  me  what  was  the  matter,  and  what  I  thought  it 
was  that  I  saw  before  me.  "  By  its  outward  appearance,"  an 
swered  I,  "  I  would  think  it  a  bear,  or  some  such  ferocious  ani 
mal,  what  is  inside  I  do  not  know,  but  rather  judge  it  to  be  the 
Evil  Spirit"  My  friend  Kill-buck  smiled,  and  replied,  "  O  !  no, 
no ;  don't  believe  that !  it  is  a  man  you  well  know,  it  is  our 
Doctor."  "  A  Doctor !  "  said  I,  "  what !  a  human  being  to  trans 
form  himself  so  as  to  be  taken  for  a  bear  walking  on  his  hind  legs, 
and  with  horns  on  his  head?  You  will  not,  surely,  deceive  me; 
if  it  is  not  a  bear,  it  must  be  some  other  ferocious  animal  that 
I  have  never  seen  before."  The  juggler  within  the  dress  hearing 
what  passed  between  us,  began  to  act  over  some  of  his  curious 
pranks,  probably  intending  to  divert  me,  as  he  saw  I  was  looking 
at  him  with  great  amazement,  not  unmixed  with  fear;  but  the 
more  he  went  on  with  his  performance,  the  more  I  was  at  a  loss 
to  decide,  whether  he  was  a  human  being  or  a  bear;  for  he  imi 
tated  that  animal  in  the  greatest  perfection,  walking  upright  on 
his  hind  legs  as  I  had  often  seen  it  do.  At  last  I  renewed  my 
questions  to  the  chief,  and  begged  him  seriously  to  tell  me  what 
that  figure  was,  and  he  assured  me  that  although  outside  it  had 
the  appearance  of  a  bear,  yet  inside  there  was  a  man,  and  that 
it  was  our  doctor  going  to  visit  one  of  his  patients  who  was 
bewitched.  A  dialogue  then  ensued  between  us,  which  I  shall 
relate,  as  well  as  I  can  recollect  it,  in  its  very  words : 

HECKEW.     But   why   does   he    go   dressed   in   that   manner  ? 

among  his  people  in  the  times  of  the  Revolutionary  war;  and  being  a  man  of  influ 
ence,  drew  upon  himself,  in  consequence,  the  implacable  animosity  of  those  of  his 
countrymen  who  took  up  arms  against  the  Americans.  Even  after  the  general  peace 
concluded  between  the  United  States  and  the  Indians  of  the  West  in  1 795,  his  life 
was  on  several  occasions  imperilled  by  his  former  opponents.  Gelelemend  united 
with  the  Moravian  Indians,  at  Salem,  on  the  Petquotting  in  the  summer  of  1788, 
where,  in  baptism,  he  was  named  William  Henry,  after  Judge  William  Henry,  of 
Lancaster.  He  died  at  Goshen,  in  the  early  winter  of  1811,  in  the  eightieth  year  of 
his  age.  He  is  said  to  have  been  born  in  1737,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Lehigh 
Water  Gap,  Carbon  County,  Pa.  William  Henry  Gelelemend  was  one  of  the  last  con 
verts  of  distinction  attached  to  the  Moravian  Mission  among  the  Indians.] 


DOCTORS    OR    JUGGLERS.  235 

Won't  his  patient  be  frightened  to  death  on  seeing  him  enter 
the  house? 

KILLB.  No  !  indeed,  no ;  it  is  the  disorder,  the  evil  spirit, 
that  will  be  frightened  away ;  as  to  the  sick  man,  he  well  knows 
that  unless  the  doctor  has  recourse  to  the  most  powerful  means, 
he  cannot  be  relieved,  but  must  fall  a  sacrifice  to  the  wicked  will 
of  some  evil  person.  And,  pray,  don't  your  doctors  in  obstinate 
and  dubious  cases,  also  recur  to  powerful  means  in  order  to 
relieve  their  patients  ? 

HECKEW.  To  my  knowledge,  there  are  no  cases  where  witch 
craft  is  assigned  as  the  cause  of  a  disorder,  of  course  our  doctors 
have  nothing  to  do  with  that ;  and  though  they  may  sometimes 
have  occasion  to  apply  powerful  remedies  in  obstinate  diseases, 
yet  it  is  not  done  by  dressing  themselves  like  wild  beasts,  to 
frighten,  as  you  say,  the  disorder  away.  Were  our  doctors  to 
adopt  this  mode,  they  would  soon  be  left  without  patients  and 
without  bread  ;  they  would  starve. 

KILLB.  Our  doctors  are  the  richest  people  among  us,  they 
have  everything  they  want ;  fine  horses  to  ride,  fine  clothes  to 
wear,  plenty  of  strings  and  belts  of  wampum,  and  silver  arm 
and  breast  plates  in  abundance. 

HECKEW.  And  our  doctors  have  very  fine  horses  and  car 
riages,  fine  houses,  fine  clothes,  plenty  of  good  provisions  and 
wines,  and  plenty  of  money  besides  !  They  are  looked  upon  as 
gentlemen,  and  would  not  suffer  your  doctor,  dressed  as  he  is, 
to  come  into  their  company. 

KILLB.  You  must,  my  friend !  consider  that  the  cases  are 
very  different  Had  the  white  people  sorcerers  among  them 
as  the  Indians  have,  they  would  find  it  necessary  to  adopt  our 
practice  and  apply  our  remedies  in  the  same  manner  that  our 
doctors  do.  They  would  find  it  necessary  to  take  strong  measures 
to  counteract  and  destroy  the  dreadful  effects  of  witchcraft. 

HECKEW.  The  sorcerers  that  you  speak  of  exist  only  in  your 
imagination ;  rid  yourselves  of  this,  and  you  will  hear  no  more 
of  them. 

The  dress  this  juggler  had  on,  consisted  of  an  entire  garment 
or  outside  covering,  made  of  one  or  more  bear  skins,  as  black 
as  jet,  so  well  fitted  and  sewed  together,  that  the  man  was  not 


236  DOCTORS    OR    JUGGLERS. 

in  any  place  to  be  perceived.  The  whole  head  of  the  bear, 
including  the  mouth,  nose,  teeth,  ears,  &c.,  appeared  the  same 
as  when  the  animal  was  living;  so  did  the  legs  with  long  claws; 
to  this  were  added  a  huge  pair  of  horns  on  the  head,  and  behind 
a  large  bushy  tail,  moving  as  he  walked,  as  though  it  were  on 
springs;  but  for  these  accompaniments,  the  man,  walking  on 
all  fours,  might  have  been  taken  for  a  bear  of  an  extraordinary 
size.  Underneath,  where  his  hands  were,  holes  had  been  cut, 
though  not  visible  to  the  eye,  being  covered  with  the  long  hair, 
through  which  he  held  and  managed  his  implements,  and  he 
saw  through  two  holes  set  with  glass.  The  whole  was  a  great 
curiosity,  but  not  to  be  looked  at  by  everybody. 

There  are  jugglers  of  another  kind,  in  general  old  men  and 
women,  who  although  not  classed  among  doctors  or  physicians, 
yet  get  their  living  by  pretending  to  supernatural  knowledge. 
Some  pretend  that  they  can  bring  down  rain  in  dry  weather 
when  wanted,  others  prepare  ingredients,  which  they  sell  to  bad 
hunters,  that  they  may  have  good  luck,  and  others  make  philters 
or  love  potions  for  such  married  persons  as  either  do  not,  or 
think  they  cannot  love  each  other. 

When  one  of  these  jugglers  is  applied  to  to  bring  down  rain 
in  a  dry  season,  he  must  in  the  first  instance  receive  a  fee.  This 
fee  is  made  up  by  the  women,  who,  as  cultivators  of  the  land  are 
supposed  to  be  most  interested,  but  the  men  will  slily  slip  some 
thing  in  their  hands  in  aid  of  their  collection,  which  consists  of 
wampum  beads,  tobacco,  silver  broaches,  and  a  dressed  deer  skin 
to  make  shoes  of.  If  the  juggler  does  not  succeed  in  his  experi 
ment,  he  never  is  in  want  of  an  excuse ;  either  the  winds  are  in 
opposition  to  one  another,  the  dry  wind  or  air  is  too  powerful 
for  the  moist  or  south  wind,  or  he  has  not  been  made  strong 
enough,  (that  is  sufficiently  paid,)  to  compel  the  north  to  give 
way  to  the  south  from  whence  the  rain  is  to  come,  or  lastly,  he 
wants  time  to  invoke  the  great  Spirit  to  aid  him  on  the  im 
portant  occasion. 

In  the  summer  of  the  year  1799,  a  most  uncommon  drouth 
happened  in  the  Muskingum  country,  so  that  every  thing  grow 
ing,  even  the  grass  and  the  leaves  of  the  trees,  appeared  perish 
ing;  an  old  man  named  Chenos,  who  was  born  on  the  river 


DOCTORS    OR    JUGGLERS.  237 

Delaware,  was  applied  to  by  the  women  to  bring  down  rain,  and 
was  well  feed  for  the  purpose.  Having  failed  in  his  first  attempt, 
he  was  feed  a  second  time,  and  it  happened  that  one  morning, 
when  my  business  obliged  me  to  pass  by  the  place  where  he  was 
at  work,  as  I  knew  him  very  well,  I  asked  him  at  once  what  he 
was  doing?  "I  am  hired,"  said  he,  "to  do  a  very  hard  day's 
work." 

Q.  And,  pray,  what  work  ? 

A.  Why,  to  bring  down  rain  from  the  sky. 

Q.  Who  hired  you  to  do  that  ? 

A.  The  women  of  the  village ;  don't  you  see  how  much  rain 
is  wanted,  and  that  the  corn  and  every  thing  else  is  perishing  ? 

Q.  But  can  you  make  it  rain  ? 

A.  I  can,  and  you  shall  be  convinced  of  it  this  very  day. 

He  had,  by  this  time,  encompassed  a  square  of  about  five  feet 
each  way,  with  stakes  and  barks  so  that  it  might  resemble  a  pig 
pen  of  about  three  feet  in  height,  and  now,  with  his  face  uplifted 
and  turned  towards  the  north,  he  muttered  something,  then 
closely  shutting  up  with  bark  the  opening  which  had  been  left 
on  the  north  side,  he  turned  in  the  same  manner,  still  muttering 
some  words,  towards  the  south,  as  if  invoking  some  superior 
being,  and  having  cut  through  the  bark  on  the  southwest  corner, 
so  as  to  make  an  opening  of  two  feet,  he  said :  "  now  we  shall 
have  rain  enough  !  "  Hearing  down  the  river  the  sound  of  setting 
poles  striking  against  a  canoe,  he  enquired  of  me  what  it  was  ? 
I  told  him  it  was  our  Indians  going  up  the  river  to  make  a  bush 
net  for  fishing.  "  Send  them  home  again  !  "  said  he,  "  tell  them 
that  this  will  not  be  a  fit  day  for  fishing !  "  I  told  him  to  let 
them  come  on  and  speak  to  them  himself,  if  he  pleased.  He 
did  so,  and  as  soon  as  they  came  near  him,  he  told  them  that 
they  must  by  no  means  think  of  fishing  that  day,  for  there 
should  come  a  heavy  rain  which  would  wet  them  all  through. 
"  No  matter,  Father !  "  answered  they  in  a  jocular  manner, 
"  give  us  only  rain  and  we  will  cheerfully  bear  the  soaking." 
They  then  passed  on,  and  I  proceeded  to  Goschachking^  the 
village  to  which  I  was  going.1  I  mentioned  the  circumstance 

1  [Goschachking,  sometime  the  capital  of  the  Delaware  nation,  stood  on  the  Muskin- 
gum,  immediately  below  the  junction  of  the  Tuscarawas  and  the  Walhonding.  On 
its  site  stands  Coshocton.  The  town  was  destroyed  by  Gen.  Brodhead  in  1781.] 


238  DOCTORS    OR    JUGGLERS. 

to  the  chief  of  the  place,  and  told  him  that  I  thought  it  impos 
sible  that  we  should  have  rain  while  the  sky  was  so  clear  as  it 
then  was  and  had  been  for  near  five  weeks  together,  without  its 
being  previously  announced  by  some  signs  or  change  in  the  at 
mosphere.  But  the  chief  answered :  "  Chenos  knows  very  well 
what  he  is  about;  he  can  at  any  time  predict  what  the  weather 
will  be ;  he  takes  his  observations  morning  and  evening  from 
the  river  or  something  in  it."  On  my  return  from  this  place 
after  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the  sky  still  continued  the 
same  until  about  four  o'clock,  when  all  at  once  the  horizon  be 
came  overcast,  and  without  any  thunder  or  wind  it  began  to  rain, 
and  continued  so  for  several  hours  together,  until  the  ground 
became  thoroughly  soaked. 

I  am  of  the  opinion  that  this  man,  like  others  whom  I  have 
known,  was  a  strict  observer  of  the  weather,  and  that  his  pre 
diction  that  day  was  made  in  consequence  of  his  having  ob 
served  some  signs  in  the  sky  or  in  the  water,  which  his  ex 
perience  had  taught  him  to  be  the  forerunners  of  rain ;  yet  the 
credulous  multitude  did  not  fail  to  ascribe  it  to  his  supernatural 
power. 

The  ingredients  for  a  bad  hunter,  to  make  him  have  good 
luck,  are  tied  up  in  a  bit  of  cloth,  and  must  be  worn  near  his 
skin  while  he  is  hunting.  The  preparations  intended  to  create 
love  between  man  and  wife,  are  to  be  slily  conveyed  to  the  frigid 
party  by  means  of  his  victuals  or  drink. 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 

SUPERSTITION. 

REAT  and  powerful  as  the  Indian  conceives  himself 
to  be,  firm  and  undaunted  as  he  really  is,  braving  all 
seasons  and  weathers,  careless  of  dangers,  patient  of 
hunger,  thirst  and  cold,  and  fond  of  displaying  the 
native  energy  of  his  character  even  in  the  midst  of  tortures,  at 
the  very  thought  of  which  our  own  puny  nature  revolts  and 
shudders;  this  Lord  of  the  Creation,  whose  life  is  spent  in  a 
state  of  constant  warfare  against  the  wild  beasts  of  the  forest 
and  the  savages  of  the  wilderness,  who,  proud  of  his  independent 
existence,  strikes  his  breast  with  exultation  and  exclaims  "  /  am 
a  man!" — the  American  Indian  has  one  weak  side,  which  sinks 
him  down  to  the  level  of  the  most  fearful  and  timid  being,  a 
childish  apprehension  of  an  occult  and  unknown  power,  which, 
unless  he  can  summon  sufficient  fortitude  to  conquer  it,  changes 
at  once  the  hero  into  a  coward.  It  is  incredible  to  what  a  de-- 
gree  the  Indians'  superstitious  belief  in  witchcraft  operates  upon 
their  minds ;  the  moment  that  their  imagination  is  struck  with 
the  idea  that  they  are  bewitched,  they  are  no  longer  themselves  ; 
their  fancy  is  constantly  at  work  in  creating  the  most  horrid  and 
distressing  images.  They  see  themselves  falling  a  sacrifice  to  the 
wicked  arts  of  a  vile  unknown  hand,  of  one  who  would  not  have 
dared  to  face  them  in  fair  combat;  dying  a  miserable,  ignomin 
ious  death;  a  death,  to  which  they  would  a  thousand  times  pre 
fer  the  stake  with  all  its  horrors.  No  tale,  no  tradition,  no 
memorial  of  their  courage  or  heroic  fortitude  will  go  down  with 
it  to  posterity ;  it  will  be  thought  that  they  were  not  deserving 

239 


24O  SUPERSTITION. 

of  a  better  fate.  And,  (O  !  dreadful  thought  to  an  Indian  mind !) 
that  death  is  to  remain  forever  unrevenged ; — their  friends,  their 
relations,  the  men  of  their  own  tribe,  will  seek  the  murderer  in 
vain  ;  they  will  seek  him  while,  perhaps,  he  is  in  the  midst  of 
them,  unnoticed  and  unknown,  smiling  at  their  impotent  rage, 
and  calmly  selecting  some  new  victim  to  his  infernal  art. 

Of  this  extraordinary  power  of  their  conjurers,  of  the  causes 
which  produce  it,  and  the  manner  in  which  it  is  acquired,  the 
Indians  as  may  well  be  supposed,  have  not  a  very  definite  idea. 
All  they  can  say  is  that  the  sorcerer  makes  use  of  a  "  deadening 
substance,"  which  he  discharges  and  conveys  to  the  person  that 
he  means  to  " strike"  through  the  air,  by  means  of  the  wind  or 
of  his  own  breath,  or  throws  at  him  in  a  manner  which  they  can 
neither  understand  nor  describe.  The  person  thus  " stricken"  is 
immediately  seized  with  an  unaccountable  terror,  his  spirits 
sink,  his  appetite  fails,  he  is  disturbed  in  his  sleep,  he  pines  and 
wastes  away,  or  a  fit  of  sickness  seizes  him,  and  he  dies  at  last  a 
miserable  victim  to  the  workings  of  his  own  imagination. 

Such  are  their  ideas  and  the  melancholy  effects  of  the  dread 
they  feel  of  that  supernatural  power  which  they  vainly  fancy  to 
exist  among  them.  That  they  can  destroy  one  another  by 
means  of  poisonous  roots  and  plants,  is  certainly  true,  but  in 
this  there  is  no  witchcraft.  This  prejudice  that  they  labour 
under  can  be  ascribed  to  no  other  cause  than  their  excessive 
ignorance  and  credulity.  I  was  once  acquainted  with  a  white 
man,  a  shrewd  and  correct  observer,  who  had  lived  long  among 
the  Indians,  and  being  himself  related  to  an  Indian  family,  had 
the  best  opportunities  of  obtaining  accurate  information  on  this 
subject.  He  told  me  that  he  had  found  the  means  of  getting 
into  the  confidence  of  one  of  their  most  noted  sorcerers,  who 
had  frankly  confessed  to  him,  that  his  secret  consisted  in 
exciting  fear  and  suspicion,  and  creating  in  the  multitude  a 
strong  belief  in  his  magical  powers,  "  For,"  said  he,  "  such  is  the 
credulity  of  many,  that  if  I  only  pick  a  little  wool  from  my 
blanket,  and  roll  it  between  my  fingers  into  a  small  round 
ball,  not  larger  than  a  bean,  I  am  by  that  alone  believed  to  be 
deeply  skilled  in  the  magic  art,  and  it  is  immediately  supposed 
that  I  am  preparing  the  deadly  substance  with  which  I  mean  to 


SUPERSTITION.  24! 

strike  some  person  or  other,  although  I  hardly  know  myself  at 
the  time  what  my  fingers  are  doing ;  and  if,  at  that  moment,  I 
happen  to  cast  my  eyes  on  a  particular  man,  or  even  throw 
a  side  glance  at  him,  it  is  enough  to  mak?  him  consider  himself 
as  the  intended  victim ;  he  is  from  that  instant  effectually  struck, 
and  if  he  is  not  possessed  of  great  fortitude,  so  as  to  be  able  to 
repel  the  thought,  and  divert  his  mind  from  it,  or  to  persuade 
himself  that  it  is  nothing  but  the  work  of  a  disturbed  imagina 
tion,  he  will  sink  under  the  terror  thus  created,  and  at  last  perish 
a  victim,  not  indeed,  to  witchcraft,  but  to  his  own  credulity  and 
folly." 

But  men  of  such  strong  minds  are  not  often  to  be  found  ;  so 
deeply  rooted  is  the  belief  of  the  Indians  in  those  fancied  super 
natural  powers.  It  is  vain  to  endeavour  to  convince  them  by 
argument  that  they  are  entirely  founded  in  delusion  and  have 
no  real  existence.  The  attempt  has  been  frequently  made  by 
sensible  white  men,  but  always  without  success.  The  following 
anecdote  will  shew  how  little  hope  there  is  of  ever  bringing 
them  to  a  more  rational  way  of  thinking. 

Sometime  about  the  year  1776,  a  Quaker  trader  of  the  name 
of  John  Anderson,  who  among  the  Indians  was  called  the  honest 
Quaker  trader,  after  vainly  endeavouring  to  convince  those  peo 
ple  by  argument  that  there  was  no  such  thing  as  witchcraft, 
took  the  bold,  and  I  might  say  the  rash,  solution  to  put  their 
sorcerers  to  the  test,  and  defy  the  utmost  exertions  of  their 
pretended  supernatural  powers.  He  desired  that  two  of  those 
magicians  might  be  brought  successively  before  him  on  differ 
ent  days,  who  should  be  at  liberty  to  try  their  art  on  his  person, 
and  do  him  all  the  harm  that  they  could  by  magical  means,  in 
the  presence  of  the  chiefs  and  principal  men  of  the  village. 
The  Indians  tried  at  first  to  dissuade  him  from  so  dangerous  an 
experiment;  but  he  persisted,  and  at  last  they  acceded  to  his 
demand;  a  conjurer  was  brought  to  him,  who  professed  him 
self  fully  competent  to  the  task  for  which  he  was  called,  but  he 
could  not  be  persuaded  to  make  the  attempt.  He  declared  that 
Anderson  was  so  good  and  so  honest  a  man,  so  much  his  friend 
and  the  friend  of  all  the  Indians,  that  he  could  not  think  of 
doing  him  an  injury.  He  never  practised  his  art  but  on  bad 
16 


242  SUPERSTITION. 

men  and  on  those  who  had  injured  him ;  the  great  Mannitto 
forbid  that  he  should  use  it  for  such  a  wicked  purpose  as  that 
for  which  he  was  now  called  upon. 

The  Indians  found  this  excuse  perfectly  good,  and  retired 
more  convinced  than  ever  of  the  abilities  of  their  conjurer, 
whom  they  now  revered  for  his  conscientious  scruples. 

The  one  who  was  brought  on  the  next  day  was  of  a  different 
stamp.  He  was  an  arch  sorcerer,  whose  fame  was  extended  far 
and  wide,  and  was  much  dreaded  by  the  Indians,  not  only  on 
account  of  his  great  powers,  but  of  the  wicked  disposition  of 
his  mind.  Every  effort  was  made  to  dissuade  Mr.  Anderson 
from  exposing  himself  to  what  was  considered  as  certain 
destruction  ;  but  he  stood  firm  to  his  purpose,  and  only  stipu 
lated  that  the  magician  should  sit  at  the  distance  of  about 
twelve  feet  from  him ;  that  he  should  not  be  armed  with  any 
weapon,  nor  carry  any  poison  or  any  thing  else  of  a  known 
destructive  nature,  and  that  he  should  not  even  rise  from  his 
seat,  nor  advance  towards  him  during  the  operation.  All  this 
was  agreed  to,  the  conjurer  boasting  that  he  could  effect  his 
purpose  even  at  the  distance  of  one  hundred  miles.  The  promised 
reward  was  brought  and  placed  in  full  view,  and  both  parties 
now  prepared  for  the  experiment. 

The  spectators  being  all  assembled,  the  sorcerer  took  his  seat, 
arrayed  in  the  most  frightful  manner  that  he  could  devise. 
Anderson  stood  firm  and  composed  before  him  at  the  stipulated 
distance.  All  were  silent  and  attentive  while  the  wizard  began 
his  terrible  operation.  He  began  with  working  with  his  fingers 
on  his  blanket,  plucking  now  and  then  a  little  wool  and  breath 
ing  on  it,  then  rolling  it  together  in  small  rolls  of  the  size  of  a 
bean,  and  went  through  all  the  antic  tricks  to  which  the  power 
of  bewitching  is  generally  ascribed.  But  all  this  had  no  effect. 
Anderson  remained  cool  and  composed,  now  and  then  calling 
to  his  antagonist  not  to  be  sparing  of  his  exertions.  The  con 
jurer  now'  began  to  make  the  most  horrid  gesticulations,  and 
used  all  the  means  in  his  power  to  frighten  the  honest  Quaker, 
who,  aware  of  his  purpose,  still  remained  unmoved.  At  last, 
while  the  eyes  of  all  the  spectators  were  fixed  on  this  brave 
man,  to  observe  the  effects  of  the  sorcerer's  craft  upon  him,  this 


SUPERSTITION.  243 

terrible  conjurer,  finding  that  all  his  efforts  were  in  vain,  found 
himself  obliged  to  give  up  the  point,  and  alleged  for  his  excuse 
"  that  the  Americans l  eat  too  much  salt  provisions  ;  that  salt 
had  a  repulsive  effect,  which  made  the  powerful  invisible  sub 
stance  that  he  employed  recoil  upon  him ;  that  the  Indians,  who 
eat  but  little  salt,  had  often  felt  the  effects  of  this  substance,  but 
that  the  great  quantity  of  it  which  the  white  men  used  effectually 
protected  them  against  it." 

The  imposition  in  this  instance  was  perfectly  clear  and  visible, 
and  nothing  was  so  easy  as  to  see  through  this  sorcerer's  miser 
able  pretence,  and  be  convinced  that  his  boasted  art  was  entirely 
a  deception  ;  but  it  was  not  so  with  the  Indians,  who  firmly  be 
lieved  that  the  salt  which  the  Americans 1  used  was  the  only 
cause  of  his  failure  in  this  instance,  and  that  if  it  had  not  been 
for  the  salted  meat  which  Mr.  Anderson  fed  upon,  he  would 
have  fallen  a  victim  as  well  as  others  to  the  incantations  of  this 
impostor. 

I  have  received  this  story  from  the  mouth  of  Mr.  Anderson 
himself,  who  was  a  most  respectable  gentleman,  and  also  from 
several  credible  Indians  who  were  present  at  the  time.  After 
this  bold  and  unsuccessful  experiment,  it  is  impossible  to  expect 
that  the  superstitious  notions  of  the  Indians  on  the  subject  of 
witchcraft  can  ever  by  any  means  be  rooted  out  of  their  minds.2 

1  For  "Americans"  read  "white  men."11 

2  The  following  extract  from  the  Detroit  Gazette,  shews  that  this  superstitious  be 
lief  of  the  Indians  in  the  powers  of  witchcraft,  still  continues  in  full  force,  even 
among  those  who  live  in  the  vicinity  of  the  whites,  and  are  in  the  habit  of  constant 
intercourse  with  them. 

From  the  Detroit  Gazette  of  the  I'jth  of  August,  1818. 

On  the  evening  of  the  22d  ult.  an  Indian  of  the  Wyandot  tribe  was  murdered  by 
some  of  his  relatives,  near  the  mouth  of  the  river  Huron,  on  lake  Erie.  The  circum 
stances,  in  brief,  are  as  follows : 

"  It  appears  that  two  Wyandots,  residing  at  Maiden,  and  relatives  to  the  deceased, 
had  been  informed  by  Captain  Johnny,  an  Indian  living  on  the  Huron  river,  and  also 
a  relative,  that  a  Shawanee  Indian  had  come  to  his  death  by  the  witchcraft  of  an  old 
Indian  woman  and  her  son  Mike,  and  that  in  order  to  avert  the  vengeance  of  the 
Shawanee  tribe,  it  would  be  necessary  to  kill  them  —  and  furthermore,  that  the  death 
of -Walk-in-the-water,  who  died  last  June,  was  caused  by  the  same  old  woman's 
witchcraft.  It  was  determined  to  kill  the  old  woman  and  her  son — and  for  that 
purpose  they  crossed  over  on  the  22d  ult.  and  succeeded  in  the  course  of  the  evening 


244  SUPERSTITION. 

in  killing  the  latter  in  his  cabin.  The  old  woman  was  not  at  home.  The  next  day, 
while  endeavouring  to  persuade  her  to  accompany  them  into  the  woods,  as  they  said, 
to  drink  whiskey,  they  were  discovered  by  Dr.  William  Brown  and  Mr.  Oliver  Wil 
liams,  who  had  received  that  morning  intimations  of  their  intentions,  and  owing  to 
the  exertions  of  these  gentlemen,  the  old  woman's  life  was  preserved  and  one  of  the 
Indians  taken,  who  is  now  confined  in  the  jail  of  this  city  —  the  others  escaped  by 
swiftness  of  foot. 

"  On  the  examination  of  the  Indian  taken,  it  appeared  that  the  old  woman,  shortly 
after  the  death  of  the  Shawanee,  had  entered  his  cabin,  and  in  a  voice  of  exultation, 
called  upon  him,  saying  —  'Shawanee  man!  where  are  you?  —  You  that  mocked 
me;  you  thought  you  would  live  forever — you  are  gone  and  I  am  here  —  come  — 
Why  do  you  not  come  ? '  &c. —  She  is  said  to  have  made  use  of  nearly  the  same 
words  in  the  cabin  of  Walk-in-the-water,  shortly  after  his  death." 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

INITIATION  OF  BOYS. 

DO  not  know  how  to  give  a  better  name  to  a  super 
stitious  practice  which  is  very  common  among  the 
Indians,  and,  indeed,  is  universal  among  those  nations 
that  I  have  become  acquainted  with.  By  certain 
methods  which  I  shall  presently  describe,  they  put  the  mind  of 
a  boy  in  a  state  of  perturbation,  so  as  to  excite  dreams  and 
visions  ;  by  means  of  which  they  pretend  that  the  boy  receives 
instructions  from  certain  spirits  or  unknown  agents  as  to  his 
conduct  in  life,  that  he  is  informed  of  his  future  destination  and 
of  the  wonders  he  is  to  perform  in  his  future  career  through  the 
world. 

When  a  boy  is  to  be  thus  initiated,  he  is  put  under  an  alter- 
nate  course  of  physic  and  fasting,  either  taking  no  food  whatever, 
or  swallowing  the  most  powerful  and  nauseous  medicines,  and 
occasionally  he  is  made  to  drink  decoctions  of  an  intoxicating 
nature,  until  his  mind  becomes  sufficiently  bewildered,  so  that 
he  sees  or  fancies  that  he  sees  visions,  and  has  extraordinary 
dreams,  for  which,  of  course,  he  has  been  prepared  beforehand. 
He  will  fancy  himself  flying  through  the  air,  walking  under 
ground,  stepping  from  one  ridge  or  hill  to  the  other  across  the 
valley  beneath,  fighting  and  conquering  giants  and  monsters, 
and  defeating  whole  hosts  by  his  single  arm.  Then  he  has  in 
terviews  with  the  Mannitto  or  with  spirits,  who  inform  him  of 
what  he  was  before  he  was  born  and  what  he  will  be  after  his 
death.  His  fate  in  this  life  is  laid  entirely  open  before  him,  the 
spirit  tells  him  what  is  to  be  his  future  employment,  whether  he 

245 


246  INITIATION    OF    BOYS. 

will  be  a  valiant  warrior,  a  mighty  hunter,  a  doctor,  a  conjurer, 
or  a  prophet.  There  are  even  those  who  learn  or  pretend  to 
learn  in  this  way  the  time  and  manner  of  their  death. 

When  a  boy  has  been  thus  initiated,  a  name  is  given  to  him 
analogous  to  the  visions  that  he  has  seen,  and  to  the  destiny  that 
is  supposed  to  be  prepared  for  him.  The  boy,  imagining  all  that 
happened  to  him  while  under  perturbation,  to  have  been  real, 
sets  out  in  the  world  with  lofty  notions  of  himself,  and  animated 
with  courage  for  the  most  desperate  undertakings. 

The  belief  in  the  truth  of  those  visions  is  universal  among  the 
Indians,  I  have  spoken  with  several  of  their  old  men,  who  had 
been  highly  distinguished  for  their  valour,  and  asked  them 
whether  they  ascribed  their  achievements  to  natural  or  super 
natural  causes,  and  they  uniformly  answered,  that  as  they  knew 
beforehand  what  they  could  do,  they  did  it  of  course.  When  I 
carried  my  questions  farther,  and  asked  them  how  they  knew 
what  they  could  do  ?  they  never  failed  to  refer  to  the  dreams 
and  visions  which  they  had  while  under  perturbation,  in  the 
manner  I  have  above  mentioned. 

I  always  found  it  vain  to  attempt  to  undeceive  them  on  this  sub 
ject.  They  never  were  at  a  loss  for  examples  to  shew  that  the 
dreams  they  had  had  were  not  the  work  of  a  heated  imagination, 
but  that  they  came  to  them  through  the  agency  of  a  mannitto. 
They  could  always  cite  numerous  instances  of  valiant  men,  who, 
in  former  times,  in  consequence  of  such  dreams,  had  boldly 
attacked  their  enemy  with  nothing  but  the  Tamahican1  in  their 
hand,  had  not  looked  about  to  survey  the  number  of  their  oppo 
nents,  but  had  gone  straight  forward,  striking  all  down  before 
them ;  some,  they  said,  in  the  French  wars,  had  entered  houses 
of  the  English  filled  with  people,  who,  before  they  had  time  to 
look  about,  were  all  killed  and  laid  in  a  heap.  Such  was  the 
strength,  the  power  and  the  courage  conveyed  to  them  in  their 
supernatural  dreams,  and  which  nothing  could  resist. 

If  they  stopped  here  in  their  relations,  I  might,  perhaps,  con- 
sider  this  practice  of  putting  boys  under  perturbation,  as  a  kind 
of  military  school  or  exercise,  intended  to  create  in  them  a  more 

1  War-hatchet;  from  which  we  have  made  tomahawk. 


INITIATION    OF    BOYS.  247 

than  ordinary  courage,  and  make  them  undaunted  warriors.  It 
certainly  has  this  effect  on  some,  who  fancying  themselves  under 
the  immediate  protection  of  the  celestial  powers,  despise  all  dan 
gers,  and  really  perform  acts  of  astonishing  bravery.  But  it 
must  be  observed,  that  all  that  are  thus  initiated  are  not  designed 
for  a  military  life,  and  that  several  learn  by  their  dreams  that 
they  are  to  be  physicians,  sorcerers,  or  that  their  lives  are  to  be 
devoted  to  some  other  civil  employment.  And  it  is  astonishing 
what  a  number  of  superstitious  notions  are  infused  into  the  minds 
of  the  unsuspecting  youth,  by  means  of  those  dreams,  which  are 
useless,  at  least,  for  making  good  warriors  or  hunters.  There  are 
even  some  who  by  that  means  are  taught  to  believe  in  the  trans 
migration  of  souls. 

I  once  took  great  pains  to  dissuade  from  these  notions  a  very 
sensible  Indian,  much  esteemed  by  all  who  knew  him,  even 
among  the  whites.  All  that  I  could  say  or  urge  was  not  able  to 
convince  him  that  at  the  time  of  his  initiation  (as  I  call  it)  his 
mind  was  in  a  state  of  temporary  derangement.  He  declared 
that  he  had  a  clear  recollection  of  the  dreams  and  visions  that 
had  occurred  to  him  at  the  time,  and  was  sure  that  they  came 
from  the  agency  of  celestial  spirits.  He  asserted  very  strange 
things,  of  his  own  supernatural  knowledge,  which  he  had  ob 
tained  not  only  at  the  time  of  his  initiation,  but  at  other  times, 
even  before  he  was  born.  He  said  he  knew  he  had  lived  through 
two  generations ;  that  he  had  died  twice  and  was  born  a  third 
time,  to  live  out  the  then  present  race,  after  which  he  was  to  die 
and  never  more  to  come  to  this  country  again.  He  well  remem 
bered  what  the  women  had  predicted  while  he  was  yet  in  his 
mother's  womb ;  some  had  foretold  that  he  would  be  a  boy,  and 
others  a  girl ;  he  had  distinctly  overheard  their  discourses,  and 
could  repeat  correctly  every  thing  that  they  had  said.  It  would 
be  too  long  to  relate  all  the  wild  stories  of  the  same  kind  which 
this  otherwise  intelligent  Indian  said  of  himself,  with  a  tone  and 
manner  which  indicated  the  most  intimate  conviction,  and  left 
no  doubt  in  my  mind  that  he  did  not  mean  to  deceive  others, 
but  was  himself  deceived. 

I  have  known  several  other  Indians  who  firmly  believed  that 
they  knew,  by  means  of  these  visions,  what  was  to  become  of 


248 


INITIATION    OF    BOYS. 


them  when  they  should  die,  how  their  souls  were  to  retire  from 
their  bodies  and  take  their  abodes  into  those  of  infants  yet  un 
born  ;  in  short,  there  is  nothing  so  wild  and  so  extraordinary 
that  they  will  not  imagine  and  to  which,  when  once  it  has  taken 
hold  of  their  imagination,  they  will  not  give  full  credit.  In  this 
they  are  not  a  little  aided  by  certain  superstitious  notions  which 
form  a  part  of  their  traditionary  belief,  and  of  which  I  shall  take 
notice  in  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER   XXXIV.     • 

INDIAN   MYTHOLOGY. 

1HE  Indians  consider  the  earth  as  their  universal 
mother.  They  believe  that  they  were  created  within 
its  bosom,  where  for  a  long  time  they  had  their 
abode,  before  they  came  to  live  on  its  surface.  They 
say  that  the  great,  good,  and  all  powerful  Spirit,  when  he  created 
them,  undoubtedly  meant  at  a  proper  time  to  put  them  in  the 
enjoyment  of  all  the  good  things  which  he  had  prepared  for 
them  upon  the  earth,  but  he  wisely  ordained  that  their  first 
stage  of  existence  should  be  within  it,  as  the  infant  is  formed 
and  takes  its  first  growth  in  the  womb  of  its  natural  mother. 
This  fabulous  account  of  the  creation  of  man  needs  only  to  be 
ascribed  to  the  ancient  Egyptians  or  to  the  Brahmins  of  India, 
to  be  admired  and  extolled  for  the  curious  analogy  which  it 
observes  between  the  general  and  individual  creation ;  but  as 
it  comes  from  the  American  savage,  I  doubt  whether  it  will 
even  receive  the  humble  praise  of  ingenuity,  to  which,  however, 
it  appears  to  me  to  be  justly  entitled. 

The  Indian  Mythologists  are  not  agreed  as  to  the  form  under 
which  they  existed  while  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  Some 
assert  that  they  lived  there  in  the  human  shape,  while  others, 
with  greater  consistency  contend  that  their  existence  was  in 
the  form  of  certain  terrestrial  animals,  such  as  the  ground-hog, 
the  rabbit,  and  the  tortoise.  This  was  their  state  of  preparation, 

249 


250 


INDIAN    MYTHOLOGY. 


until  they  were  permitted   to  come  out  and  take  their  station 
on  this  island1  as  the  Lords  of  the  rest  of  the  Creation. 

Among  the  Delawares,  those  of  the  Minsi,  or  Wolf  tribe,  say 
that  in  the  beginning,  they  dwelt  in  the  earth  under  a  lake,  and 
were  fortunately  extricated  from  this  unpleasant  abode  by  the 
discovery  which  one  of  their  men  made  of  a  hole,  through  which 
he  ascended  to  the  surface ;  on  which,  as  he  was  walking,  he 
found  a  deer,  which  he  carried  back  with  him  into  his  subter 
raneous  habitation ;  that  there  the  deer  was  killed,2  and  he  and 
his  companions  found  the  meat  so  good,  that  they  unanimously 
determined  to  leave  their  dark  abode,  and  remove  to  a  place 
where  they  could  enjoy  the  light  of  heaven  and  have  such  excel 
lent  game  in  abundance. 

The  other  two  tribes,  the  Unamis  or  Tortoise,  and  the  Unal- 
achtigos  or  Turkey,  have  much  similar  notions,  but  reject  the 
story  of  the  lake,  which  seems  peculiar  to  the  Minsi  tribe. 

These  notions  must  be  very  far  extended  among  the  Indians 
of  North  America  generally,  since  we  find  that  they  prevail  also 
among  the  Iroquois,  a  nation  so  opposed  to  the  Delawares,  as 
has  been  shewn  in  the  former  parts  of  this  work,  and  whose  lan 
guage  is  so  different  from  theirs,  that  not  two  words,  perhaps, 
similar  or  even  analogous  of  signification  may  be  found  alike  in 
both.  On  this  subject  I  beg  leave  to  present  an  extract  from  the 
manuscript  notes  of  the  late  Reverend  Christopher  Pyrlaeus, 
whom  I  am  always  fond  of  quoting  with  respect,  as  he  was  a 
man  of  great  truth,  and  besides  well  acquainted  with  the  Six 
Nations  and  their  idioms.3  The  account  that  he  here  gives  of 
the  traditions  of  that  people  concerning  their  original  existence, 
was  taken  down  by  him  in  January  1743,  from  the  mouth  of  a 
respectable  Mohawk  chief  named  Sganarady,  who  resided  on 
the  Mohawk  river. 

1  The  Indians  call  the  American  continent  an  island;  believing  it  to  be  (as  in  fact, 
probably,  it  is)  entirely  surrounded  with  water. 

2  For  "killed"  read  "eaten" 

V  3  Mr.  Pyrlseus  lived  long  among  the  Iroquois,  and  was  well  acquainted  with  their 
language.  He  was  instructed  in  the  Mohawk  dialect  by  the  celebrated  interpreter 
Conrad  Weiser.  He  has  left'  behind  him  some  manuscript  grammatical  works  on 
that  idiom,  one  of  them  is  entitled  :  Affix  a  nominurn  et  verborum  Lingua  Alacqua- 
ic-te,  and  another,  Adjectiva,  nomina  et  pronomina  Lingua  Macquaiae.  These  MSS. 
are  in  the  library  of  the  Society  of  the  United  Brethren  at  Bethlehem. 


INDIAN  MYTHOLOGY.  2$I 

THE  EXTRACT. 

"  Traditio. —  That  they  had  dwelt  in  the  earth  where  it  was 
dark  and  where  no  sun  did  shine.  That  though  they  followed 
hunting,  they  ate  mice,  which  they  caught  with  their  hands. 
That  Ganawagahha  (one  of  them)  having  accidentally  found  a 
hole  to  get  out  of  the  earth  at,  he  went  out,  and  that  in  walking 
about  on  the  earth  he  found  a  deer,  which  he  took  back  with 
him,  and  that  both  on  account  of  the  meat  tasting  so  very  good, 
and  the  favourable  description  he  had  given  them  of  the  country 
above  and  on  the  earth,  their  mother,  concluded  it  best  for  them 
all  to  come  out ;  that  accordingly  they  did  so,  and  immediately 
set  about  planting  corn,  &c.  That,  however,  the  'Nocharauorsiil, 
that  is,  the  ground-hog,  would  not  come  out,  but  had  remained 
in  the  ground  as  before." 

So  far  Mr.  Pyrlseus.  From  these  traditions  of  the  Iroquois, 
and  those  of  the  Delawares  and  Mohicans,  it  seems  to  follow  that 
they  must  have  considered  their  numbers  very  small,  when  they 
dwelt  in  the  earth  ;  perhaps,  no  more  than  one  family  of  each 
tribe,  and  that  the  custom  of  giving  to  their  tribes  the  names  of 
particular  animals,  must  have  been  very  ancient.  The  ground 
hog^  say  the  Mohawks,  would  not  come  out.  But  who  was  this 
hog?  Might  it  not  formerly  have  been  the  name  of  one  of  their 
tribes,  who  was  made  the  subject  of  this  fable? 

However  ridiculous  these  stories  are,  the  belief  of  the  Indians 
in  them  is  not  to  be  shaken.  When  I  was  a  boy  between  twelve 
and  fifteen  years  of  age,  I  had  often  heard  of  white  people  con 
versant  with  the  Indians,  who  at  that  time  would  continually 
come  to  this  place,  (Bethlehem)  in  great  numbers,  even  by  hun 
dreds,  that  the  Indians  did  not  eat  rabbits,  because  they  thought 
them  infected  with  the  venereal  disease,  and  that  whoever  ate 
of  their  flesh,  was  sure  to  take  that  disorder.  Being  then  myself 
fond  of  catching  those  animals  in  traps,  I  asked  questions  on  this 
subject  of  several  Mohican  Indians,  who  spoke  the  German  lan 
guage  ;  but  though  they  said  nothing  about  the  disease  that 
rabbits  were  said  to  be  infected  with,  yet  they  advised  me  by 
no  means  to  eat  of  their  flesh.  They  gave  me  no  reason  what 
ever  to  induce  me  to  abstain  from  this  food ;  but  afterwards,  in 


252  INDIAN    MYTHOLOGY. 

the  year  1762,  when  I  resided  at  Tuscorawas  on  the  Muskingum, 
I  was  told  by  some  of  them,  that  there  were  some  animals  which 
Indians  did  not  eat,  and  among  them  were  the  rabbit  and  the 
ground-hog ;  for,  said  they,  they  did  not  know  but  that  they 
might  be  related  to  them  ! 

I  found  also  that  the  Indians,  for  a  similar  reason,  paid  great 
respect  to  the  rattle-snake,  whom  they  called  their  grandfather, 
arid  would  on  no  account  destroy  him.  One  day,  as  I  was 
walking  with  an  elderly  Indian  on  the  banks  of  the  Muskingum, 
I  saw  a  large  rattle-snake  lying  across  the  path,  which  I  was 
going  to  kill.  The  Indian  immediately  forbade  my  doing  so ; 
"for,"  said  he,  "the  rattle-snake  is  grandfather  to  the  Indians,  and 
is  placed  here  on  purpose  to  guard  us,  and  to  give  us  notice  of 
impending  danger  by  his  rattle,  which  is  the  same  as  if  he  were 
to  tell  us  'look  about!'  Now,"  added  he,  "if  we  were  to  kill  one 
of  those,  the  others  would  soon  know  it,  and  the  whole  race 
would  rise  upon  us  and  bite  us."  I  observed  to  him  that  the 
white  people  were  not  afraid  of  this ;  for  they  killed  all  the 
rattle-snakes  that  they  met  with.  On  this  he  enquired  whether 
any  white  man  had  been  bitten  by  these  animals,  and  of  course 
I  answered  in  the  affirmative.  "  No  wonder,  then  !  "  replied  he, 
"you  have  to  blame  yourselves  for  that!  you  did  as  much  as  de 
claring  war  against  them,  and  you  will  find  them  in  your  country, 
where  they  will  not  fail  to  make  frequent  incursions.  They  are 
a  very  dangerous  enemy;  take  care  you  do  not  irritate  them  in 
our  country ;  they  and  their  grandchildren  are  on  good  terms, 
and  neither  will  hurt  the  other." 

These  ancient  notions  have,  however  in  a  great  measure  died 
away  with  the  last  generation,  and  the  Indians  at  present  kill 
their  grandfather  the  rattle-snake  without  ceremony,  whenever 
they  meet  with  him. 

That  the  Indians,  from  the  earliest  times,  considered  them 
selves  in  a  manner  connected  with  certain  animals,  is  evident 
from  various  customs  still  preserved  among  them,  and  from  the 
names  of  those  animals  which  they  have  collectively,  as  well  as 
individually,  assumed.  It  might,  indeed,  be  supposed  that  those 
animals'  names  which  they  have  given  to  their  several  tribes 
were  mere  badges  of  distinction,  or  "  coats  of  arms  "  as  Pyrlaeus 


INDIAN    MYTHOLOGY.  253 

calls  them ;  but  if  we  pay  attention  to  the  reasons  which  they 
give  for  those  denominations,  the  idea  of  a  supposed  family  con 
nexion  is  easily  discernible.  The  Tortoise,  or  as  it  is  commonly 
called,  the  Turtle  tribe,  among  the  Lenape,  claims  a  superiority 
and  ascendency  over  the  others,  because  their  relation,  the 
great  Tortoise,  a  fabled  monster,  the  Atlas  of  their  mythology, 
bears  according  to  their  traditions  this  great  island  on  his  back, 
and  also  because  he  is  amphibious,  and  can  live  both  on  land 
and  in  the  water,  which  neither  of  the  heads  of  the  other  tribes 
can  do.  The  merits  of  the  Turkey,  which  gives  its  name  to  the 
second  tribe,  are  that  he  is  stationary,  and  always  remains  with 
or  about  them.  As  to  the  Wolf,  after  whom  the  third  tribe  is 
named,  he  is  a  rambler  by  nature,  running  from  one  place  to 
another  in  quest  of  his  prey ;  yet  they  consider  him  as  their 
benefactor,  as  it  was  by  his  means  that  the  Indians  got  out  of 
the  interior  of  the  earth.  It  was  he,  they  believe,  who  by  the 
appointment  of  the  Great  Spirit,  killed  the  deer  whom  the 
Monsey  found  who  first  discovered  the  way  to  the  surface  of 
the  earth,  and  which  allured  them  to  come  out  of  their  damp  and 
dark  residence.  For  that  reason,  the  wolf  is  to  be  honoured, 
and  his  name  preserved  for  ever  among  them.  Such  are  their 
traditions,  as  they  were  related  to  me  by  an  old  man  of  this 
tribe  more  than  fifty  years  ago. 

These  animals'  names,  it  is  true,  they  all  use  as  national 
badges,  in  order  to  distinguish  their  tribes  from  each  other  at 
home  and  abroad.  In  this  point  of  view  Mr.  Pyrlaeus  was  right 
in  considering  them  as  "  coats  of  arms."  The  Turtle  warrior 
draws  either  with  a  coal  or  paint  here  and  there  on  the  trees 
along  the  war  path,  the  whole  animal  carrying  a  gun  with  the 
muzzle  projecting  forward,  and  if  he  leaves  a  mark  at  the  place 
where  he  has  made  a  stroke  on  his  enemy,  it  will  be  the  picture 
of  a  tortoise.  Those  of  the  Turkey  tribe  paint  only  one  foot  of 
a  turkey,  and  the  Wolf  tribe,  sometimes  a  wolf  at  large  with  one 
leg  and  foot  raised  up  to  serve  as  a  hand,  in  which  the  animal 
also  carries  a  gun  with  the  muzzle  forward.  They,  however,  do 
not  generally  use  the  word  "  wolf,"  when  speaking  of  their  tribe, 
but  call  themselves  Pauk-sit1  which  means  round-foot,  that  animal 
having  a  round  foot  like  a  dog. 

1  For  "Pauksit"  read  "  P  duk-sit." 


254  INDIAN    MYTHOLOGY. 

The  Indians,  in  their  hours  of  leisure,  paint  their  different 
marks  or  badges  on  the  doors  of  their  respective  houses,  that 
those  who  pass  by  may  know  to  which  tribe  the  inhabitants 
belong.  Those  marks  also  serve  them  for  signatures  to  treaties 
and  other  documents.  They  are  as  proud  of  their  origin  from 
the  tortoise,  the  turkey,  and  the  wolf,  as  the  nobles  of  Europe 
are  of  their  descent  from  the  feudal  barons  of  ancient  times, 
and  when  children  spring  from  intermarriages  between  different 
tribes,  their  genealogy  is  carefully  preserved  by  tradition  in  the 
family,  that  they  may  know  to  which  tribe  they  belong. 
I  I  have  often  reflected  on  the  curious  connexion  which  ap 
pears  to  subsist  in  the  mind  of  an  Indian  between  man  and  the 
brute  creation,  and  found  much  matter  in  it  for  curious  observa 
tion.  Although  they  consider  themselves  superior  to  all  other 
animals  and  are  very  proud  of  that  superiority;  although  they 
believe  that  the  beasts  of  the  forest,  the  birds  of  the  air,  and  the 
fishes  of  the  waters,  were  created  by  the  Almighty  Being  for  the 
use  of  man ;  yet  it  seems  as  if  they  ascribe  the  difference  be- 
tween  themselves  and  the  brute  kind,  and  the  dominion  which 
they  have  over  them,  more  to  their  superior  bodily  strength  and 
dexterity  than  to  their  immortal  souls.  All  beings  endowed  by 
the  Creator  with  the  power  of  volition  and  self-motion,  they 
view  in  a  manner  as  a  great  society  of  which  they  are  the  head, 
whom  they  are  appointed,  indeed,  to  govern,  but  between  whom 
and  themselves  intimate  ties  of  connexion  and  relationship  may 
exist,  or  at  least  did  exist  in  the  beginning  of  time.  They  are, 
in  fact,  according  to  their  opinions,  only  the  first  among  equals, 
the  legitimate  hereditary  sovereigns  of  the  whole  animated  race, 
of  which  they  are  themselves  a  constituent  part.  Hence,  in  their 
languages,  these  inflections  of  their  nouns  which  we  engenders, 
are  not,  as  with  us,  descriptive  of  the  masculine  and  feminine 
species,  but  of  the  animate  and  inanimate  kinds.  Indeed,  they 
go  so  far  as  to  include  trees,  and  plants  within  the  first  of  these 
descriptions.  All  animated  nature,  in  whatever  degree,  is  in 
their  eyes  a  great  whole,  from  which  they  have  not  yet  ven 
tured  to  separate  themselves.  They  do  not  exclude  other  ani 
mals  from  their  world  of  spirits,  the  place  to  which  they  expect 
to  go  after  death. 


INDIAN    MYTHOLOGY.  255 

I  find  it  difficult  to  express  myself  clearly  on  this  abstruse 
subject,  which,  perhaps,  the  Indians  themselves  do  not  very  well 
understand,  as  they  have  no  metaphysicians  among  them  to 
analyse  their  vague  notions,  and  perhaps  confuse  them  still 
more.  But  I  can  illustrate  what  I  have  said  by  some  char 
acteristic  anecdotes,  with  which  I  shall  conclude  this  chapter. 

>'  I  have  already  observed1  that  the  Indian-  includes  all  savage 
beasts  within  the  number  of  his  enemies.  This  is  by  no  means 
a  metaphorical  or  figurative  expression,  but  is  used  in  a  literal 
sense,  as  will  appear  from  what  I  am  going  to  relate. 

A  Delaware  hunter  once  shot  a  huge  bear  and  broke  its 
back-bone.  The  animal  fell  and  set  up  a  most  plaintive  cry, 
something  like  that  of  the  panther  when  he  is  hungry.  The 
hunter  instead  of  giving  him  another  shot,  stood  up  close  to 
him,  and  addressed  him  in  these  words:  "  Hark  ye  !  bear;  you 
are  a  coward,  and  no  warrior  as  you  pretend  to  be.  Were  you 
a  warrior,  you  would  shew  it  by  your  firmness  and  not  cry  and 
whimper  like  an  old  woman.  You  know,  bear,  that  our  tribes 
are  at  war  with  each  other,  and  that  yours  was  the  aggressor.2 
You  have  found  the  Indians  too  powerful  for  you,  and  you  have 
gone  sneaking  about  in  the  woods,  stealing  their  hogs  ;  perhaps 
at  this  time  you  have  hog's  flesh  in  your  belly.  Had  you  con 
quered  me,  I  would  have  borne  it  with  courage  and  died  like  a 
brave  warrior  ;  but  you,  bear,  sit  here  and  cry,  and  disgrace  your 
tribe  by  your  cowardly  conduct."  I  was  present  at  the  delivery 
of  this  curious  invective  ;  when  the  hunter  had  despatched  the 
bear,  I  asked  him  how  he  thought  that  poor  animal  could 
understand  what  he  said  to  it?  "  Oh  !  "  said  he  in  answer,  "  the 
bear  understood  me  very  well  ;  did  you  not  observe  how 
ashamed  he  looked  while  I  was  upbraiding  him  ?" 

Another  time  I  witnessed  a  similar  scene  between  the  falls  of 
the  Ohio  and  the  river  Wabash.  A  young  white  man,  named 


1  See  page  101. 

2  Probably  alluding  to  a  tradition  which  the  Indians  have  of  a  very  ferocious  kind 
of  bear,  called  the  naked  bear,  which  they  say  once  existed,  but  was  totally  destroyed 
by  their  ancestors.     The  last  was  killed  in  the  New  York  state,  at  a  place  they  called 
Hoosink,  which  means  the  Basin,  or  more  properly  the  Kettle. 


256  INDIAN    MYTHOLOGY. 

William  Wells?  who  had  been  when  a  boy  taken  prisoner  by  a 
tribe  of  the  Wabash  Indians,  by  whom  he  was  brought  up,  and 
had  imbibed  all  their  notions,  had  so  wounded  a  large  bear  that 
he  could  not  move  from  the  spot,  and  the  animal  cried  piteously 
like  the  one  I  have  just  mentioned.  The  young  man  went  up  to 
him,  and  with  seemingly  great  earnestness,  addressed  him  in 
the  Wabash  language,  now  and  then  giving  him  a  slight  stroke 
on  the  nose  with  his  ram-rod.  I  asked  him,  when  he  had  done, 
what  he  had  been  saying  to  this  bear?  "  I  have,"  said  he,  "up 
braided  him  for  acting  the  part  of  a  coward ;  I  told  him  that  he 
knew  the  fortune  of  war,  that  one  or  the  other  of  us  must  have 
fallen ;  that  it  was  his  fate  to  be  conquered,  and  he  ought  to  die 
like  a  man,  like  a  hero,  and  not  like  an  old  woman ;  that  if  the 
case  had  been  reversed,  and  I  had  fallen  into  the  power  of  my 
enemy,  I  would  not  have  disgraced  rny  nation  as  he  did,  but 
would  have  died  with  firmness  and  courage,  as  becomes  a  true 
warrior." 

I  leave  the  reader  to  reflect  upon  these  anecdotes,  which,  I 
think,  convey  more  real  information  than  any  further  attempts 
that  I  could  make  to  explain  the  strange  notions  which  gave 
them  rise. 

1  The  same  whom  Mr.  de  Volney  speaks  of  in  his  excellent  "  View  of  the  Soil  and 
Climate  of  the  United  States."  Supplement,  No.  VI.,  page  356,  Philadelphia  Edition, 
1804. 


CHAPTER   XXXV. 

INSANITY  —  SUICIDE. 

,NSANITY  is  not  common  among  the  Indians;  yet  I 
have  known  several  who  were  afflicted  with  mental 
derangement.  Men  in  this  situation  are  always  con 
sidered  as  objects  of  pity.  Every  one,  young  and 
old,  feels  compassion  for  their  misfortune ;  to  laugh  or  scoff  at 
them  would  be  considered  as  a  crime,  much  more  so  to  insult  or 
molest  them.  The  nation  or  colour  of  the  unfortunate  object 
makes  no  difference ;  the  charity  of  the  Indians  extends  to  all, 
and  no  discrimination  is  made  in  such  a  lamentable  case. 

About  the  commencement  of  the  Indian  war  in  1763,  a  trading 
Jew,  named  Chapman,  who  was  going  up  the  Detroit  river 
with  a  batteau-load  of  goods  which  he  had  brought  from 
Albany,  was  taken  by  some  Indians  of  the  Chippeway  nation, 
and  destined  to  be  put  to  death.  A  Frenchman,  impelled  by 
motives  of  friendship  and  humanity,  found  means  to  steal  the 
prisoner,  and  kept  him  so  concealed  for  some  time,  that  although 
the  most  diligent  search  was  made,  the  place  of  his  confinement 
could  not  be  discovered.  At  last,  however,  the  unfortunate  man 
was  betrayed  by  some  false  friend,  and  again  fell  into  the  power 
of  the  Indians,  who  took  him  across  the  river  to  be  burned  and 
tortured.  Tied  to  the  stake  and  the  fire  burning  by  his  side,  his 
thirst,  from  the  great  heat,  became  intolerable,  and  he  begged 
that  some  drink  might  be  given  to  him.  It  is  a  custom  with  the 
Indians,  previous  to  a  prisoner  being  put  to  death,  to  give  him 
what  they  call  his  last  meal ;  a  bowl  of  pottage  or  broth  was 
therefore  brought  to  him  for  that  purpose.  Eager  to  quench  his 
17  257 


258  INSANITY SUICIDE. 

thirst,  he  put  the  bowl  immediately  to  his  lips,  and  the  liquor 
being  very  hot,  he  was  dreadfully  scalded.  Being  a  man  of  a 
very  quick  temper,  the  moment  he  felt  his  mouth  burned,  he 
threw  the  bowl  with  its  contents  full  in  the  face  of  the  man  who 
had  handed  it  to  him.  "  He  is  mad !  He  is  mad  !  "  resounded 
from  all  quarters.  The  bystanders  considered  his  conduct  as  an 
act  of  insanity,  and  immediately  untied  the  cords  with  which  he 
was  bound,  and  let  him  go  where  he  pleased. 

This  fact  was  well  known  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  Detroit, 
from  whom  I  first  heard  it,  and  it  was  afterwards  confirmed  to 
me  by  Mr.  Chapman  himself,  who  was  established  as  a  merchant 
at  that  place. 

1  SUICIDE  is  not  considered  by  the  Indians  either  as  an  act  of 
heroism  or  of  cowardice,  nor  is  it  with  them  a  subject  of  praise 
or  blame.  They  view  this  desperate  act  as  the  consequence  of 
mental  derangement,  and  the  person  who  destroys  himself  is  to 
them  an  object  of  pity.  Such  cases  do  not  frequently  occur. 
Between  the  years  1771  and  1780,  four  Indians  of  my  acquaint- 
ance  took  the  root  of  the  may-apple,  which  is  commonly  used 
on  such  occasions,  in  order  to  poison  themselves,  in  which  they 
all  succeeded,  except  one.  Two  of  them  were  young  men,  who 
had  been  disappointed  in  love,  the  girls  on  whom  they  had  fixed 
their  choice,  and  to  whom  they  were  engaged,  having  changed 
their  minds  and  married  other  lovers.  They  both  put  an  end 
to  their  existence.  The  two  others  were  married  men.  Their 
stories,  as  pictures  of  Indian  manners,  will  not,  perhaps,  be 
thought  uninteresting,  j 

One  of  those  unfortunate  men  was  a  person  of  an  excellent 
character,  respected  and  esteemed  by  all  who  knew  him.  He 
had  a  wife  whom  he  was  very  fond  of  and  two  children,  and  they 
lived  very  happily  together  at  the  distance  of  about  half  a  mile 
from  the  place  where  I  resided.  He  often  came  to  visit  me,  and 
as  he  was  of  a  most  amiable  disposition,  I  was  pleased  with  his 
visits,  and  always  gave  him  a  hearty  welcome.  When  I  thought 
he  was  too  long  about  coming,  I  went  myself  to  the  delightful 
spot  which  he  had  judiciously  selected  for  his  dwelling.  Here 
I  always  found  the  family  cheerful,  sociable  and  happy,  until 
some  time  before  the  fatal  catastrophe  happened,  when  I  ob- 


INSANITY  —  SUICIDE.  259 

served  that  my  friend's  countenance  bore  the  marks  of  deep 
melancholy,  of  which  I  afterwards  learned  the  cause.  His  wife 
had  received  the  visits  of  another  man ;  he  foresaw  that  he 
would  soon  be  obliged  to  separate  from  her,  and  he  shuddered 
when  he  thought  that  he  must  also  part  from  his  two  lovely 
children  ;  for  it  is  the  custom  of  the  Indians,  that  when  a  divorce 
takes  place  between  husband  and  wife,  the  children  remain  with 
their  mother,  until  they  are  of  a  proper  age  to  choose  for  them 
selves.  One  hope,  however,  still  remained.  The  sugar-making 
season  was  at  hand,  and  they  were  shortly  to  remove  to  their 
sugar-camp,  where  he  flattered  himself  his  wife  would  not  be 
followed  by  the  disturber  of  his  peace,  whose  residence  was 
about  ten  miles  from  thence.  But  this  hope  was  of  short  dura 
tion.  They  had  hardly  been  a  fortnight  in  their  new  habitation, 
when,  as  he  returned  one  day  from  a  morning's  hunt,  he  found 
the  unwelcome  visitor  at  his  home,  in  close  conversation  with 
his  faithless  wife.  This  last  stroke  was  more  than  he  could  bear ; 
without  saying  a  single  word,  he  took  off  a  large  cake  of  his 
sugar,  and  with  it  came  to  my  house,  which  was  at  the  distance 
of  eight  miles  from  his  temporary  residence.  It  was  on  a  Sunday, 
at  about  ten  o'clock  in  the  forenoon,  that  he  entered  my  door, 
with  sorrow  strongly  depicted  on  his  manly  countenance.  As 
he  came  in  he  presented  me  with  his  cake  of  sugar,  saying,  "  My 
friend  !  you  have  many  a  time  served  me  with  a  good  pipe  of 
tobacco,  and  I  have  not  yet  done  anything  to  please  you.  Take 
this  as  a  reward  for  your  goodness,  and  as  an  acknowledgment 
from  me  as  your  friend."  He  said  no  more,  but  giving  me  with 
both  his  hands  a  warm  farewell  squeeze,  he  departed  and  re 
turned  to  the  camp.  At  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  a 
runner  from  thence  passing  through  the  town  to  notify  his  death 
at  the  village  two  miles  farther,  informed  us  of  the  shocking 
event.  He  had  immediately  on  his  return,  remained  a  short 
time  in  his  house,  indulging  in  the  last  caresses  to  his  dear 
innocent  children ;  then  retiring  to  some  distance,  had  eaten 
the  fatal  root,  and  before  relief  could  be  administered  by  some 
persons  who  had  observed  him  staggering  from  the  other  side 
of  the  river,  he  was  on  the  point  of  expiring,  and  all  succours 
were  vain. 


260  INSANITY — SUICIDE. 

*The  last  whom  I  have  to  mention  was  also  a  married  man, 
but  had  no  children.  He  had  lived  happy  with  his  wife,  until 
one  day  that  she  fell  into  a  passion  and  made  use  to  him  of  such 
abusive  language  as  he  could  not  endure.  Too  highminded  to 
quarrel  with  a  woman,  he  resolved  to  punish  her  by  putting  an 
end  to  his  existence.  Fortunately  he  was  seen  in  the  first  stage 
of  his  fits,  and  was  brought  into  a  house,  where  a  strong  emetic 
diluted  in  lukewarm  water,  the  composition  of  which  I  have 
already  described,1  was  forcibly  poured  down  his  throat.  He 
recovered  after  some  time,  but  never  was  again  the  strong 
healthy  man  he  had  been  before ;  his  wife  however  took  warn 
ing  from  this  desperate  act,  and  behaved  better  ever  after. 

1  See  ch.  29,  p.  225. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

DRUNKENNESS. 

N  treating  of  this  subject,  I  cannot  resist  the  impres 
sion  of  a  melancholy  feeling,  arising  from  the  com 
parison  which  forces  itself  upon  my  mind  of  what  the 
Indians  were  before  the  Europeans  came  into  this  coun 
try,  and  what  they  have  become  since,  by  a  participation  in  our 
vices.  By  their  intercourse  with  us,  they  have  lost  much  of  that 
original  character  by  which  they  were  once  distinguished,  and 
which  it  is  the  object  of  this  work  to  delineate,  and  the  change 
which  has  taken  place  is  by  no  means  for  the  better.  I  am  not 
one  of  those  wild  enthusiasts  who  would  endeavour  to  persuade 
mankind  that  savage  life  is  preferable  to  a  state  of  civilisation ; 
but  I  leave  it  to  every  impartial  person  to  decide,  whether  the 
condition  of  the  healthy  sober  Indian,  pursuing  his  game  through 
forests  and  plains,  is  not  far  superior  to  that  of  the  gangrened 
drunken  white  man,  rioting  in  debauchery  and  vice? 

1  have  already  before  taken  notice1  of  the  assertion  which  our 
aborigines  do  not  hesitate  to  make,  that  before  the  Europeans 
landed  in  those  parts  of  the  American  continent,  they  were  unac 
quainted  with  that  shameful  disorder  which  attacks  generation 
in  its  sources.  I  am  well  aware  that  this  complaint  is  generally 
believed  to  have  been  communicated  by  the  new  world  to 
the  old.  I  do  not  know  upon  what  proofs  this  opinion  rests, 
but  I  am  disposed  to  give  credit  to  the  uniform  assertion  of  our 

1  See  ch.  28,  p.  221. 

261 


262  DRUNKENNESS. 

northern  Indians,  that  this  contagion  was  first  introduced  among 
them  by  emigrants  from  Europe.  However  it  may  be,  it  is  a  v 
lamentable  fact  that  they  are  now  very  generally  infected  with 
it,  and  that  their  population  cannot  long  resist  its  destructive 
operation  upon  their  once  strong  and  healthy  constitutions,  par 
ticularly  as  it  is  associated  with  the  abuse  of  strong  liquors,  now 
so  prevalent  among  them. 

Of  the  manner  in  which  they  have  acquired  this  latter  vice,  I 
presume  there  can  be  no  doubt.  They  charge  us  in  the  most 
positive  manner  with  being  the  first  who  made  them  acquainted 
with  ardent  spirits,  and  what  is  worse,  with  having  exerted  all 
the  means  in  our  power  to  induce  them  to  drink  to  excess.  It 
is  very  certain  that  the  processes  of  distillation  and  fermentation 
are  entirely  unknown  to  the  Indians,  and  that  they  have  among 
them  no  intoxicating  liquors  but  such  as  they  receive  from  us. 
The  Mexicans  have  their  Pulque,  and  other  indigenous  beverages 
of  an  inebriating  nature,  but  the  North  American  Indians,  before 
their  intercourse  with  us  commenced,  had  absolutely  nothing  of 
the  kind.  The  smoke  of  the  American  weed,  tobacco,  was  the 
only  means  that  they  at  that  time  had  in  use  to  produce  a  tem 
porary  exhilaration  of  their  spirits. 

*y  I  have  related  in  a  former  chapter,1  the  curious  account  given 
by  the  Delawares  and  Mohicans  of  the  scene  which  took  place 
when  they  were  first  made  to  taste  spirituous  liquors  by  the 
Dutch  who  landed  on  New  York  Island.  I  have  no  doubt  that 
this  tradition  is  substantially  founded  on  fact.  Indeed,  it  is 
strongly  corroborated  by  the  name  which,  in  consequence  of 
this  adventure,  those  people  gave  at  the  time  to  that  island,  and 
which  it  has  retained  to  this  day.  They  called  it  Manahachta- 
nienk,  which  in  the  Delaware  language,  means  "  the  island  where 
we  all  became  intoxicated^  We  have  corrupted  this  name  into 
Manhattan,  but  not  so  as  to  destroy  its  meaning,  or  conceal  its 
origin.  The  last  syllable  which  we  have  left  out  is  only  a  ter 
mination,  implying  locality,  and  in  this  word  signifies  as  much 
as  where  we.  There  are  few  Indian  traditions  so  well  supported 
as  this. 

1  See  ch.  2. 


DRUNKENNESS.  263 

How  far  from  that  time  the  dreadful  vice  of  intoxication  has 
increased  among  those  poor  Indians,  is  well  known  to  many 
Christian  people  among  us.  We  may  safely  calculate  on  thou 
sands  who  have  perished  by  the  baneful  effect  of  spirituous 
liquors.  The  dreadful  war  which  took  place  in  1774  between 
the  Shawanese,  some  of  the  Mingoes,  and  the  people  of  Virginia, 
in  which  so  many  lives  were  lost,  was  brought  on  by  the  con 
sequences  of  drunkenness.  It  produced  murders,  which  were 
followed  by  private  revenge,  and  ended  in  a  most  cruel  and  des 
tructive  war. 

'  The  general  prevalence  of  this  vice  among  the  Indians  is  in  a 
great  degree  owing  to  unprincipled  white  traders,  who  persuade 
them  to  become  intoxicated  that  they  may  cheat  them  the  more 
easily,  and  obtain  their  lands  or1  peltries  for  a  mere  trifle.  Within 
the  last  fifty  years,  some  instances  have  even  come  to  my  knowl 
edge  of  white  men  having  enticed  Indians  to  drink,  and  when 
drunk,  murdered  them.  The  effects  which  intoxication  produces 
upon  the  Indians  are  dreadful.  It  has  been  the  cause  of  an  in 
finite  number  of  murders  among  them,  besides  biting  off  noses 
and  otherwise  disfiguring  each  other,  which  are  the  least  conse 
quences  of  the  quarrels  which  inebriation  produces  between 
them.  I  cannot  say  how  many  have  died  of  colds  and  other  dis 
orders,  which  they  have  caught  by  lying  upon  the  cold  ground, 
and  remaining  exposed  to  the  elements  when  drunk;  others 
have  lingered  out  their  lives,  in  excruciating  rheumatic  pains  and 
in  wasting  consumptions,  until  death  came  to  relieve  them  from 
their  sufferings. 

Reflecting  Indians  have  keenly  remarked,  "  that  it  was  strange 
that  a  people  who  professed  themselves  believers  in  a  religion 
revealed  to  them  by  the  great  Spirit  himself;  who  say  that  they 
have  in  their  houses  the  WORD  of  God,  and  his  laws  and  com 
mandments  textually  written,  could  think  of  making  a  bcson? 
calculated  to  bewitch  people  and  make  them  destroy  one 
another."  I  once  asked  an  Indian  at  Pittsburgh,  whom  I  had 
not  before  seen,  who  he  was  ?  He  answered  in  broken  English  : 

1  Dele  "lands  or" 

2  This  word  means  liquor,  and  is  also  used  in  the  sense  of  a  medicinal  draught,  or 
other  compound  potion. 


264  DRUNKENNESS. 

"  My  name  is  Black-fish  ;  when  at  home  with  my  nation,  I  am  a 
clever  fellow,  and  when  here,  a  hog''  He  meant  that  by  means 
of  the  liquor  which  the  white  people  gave  him,  he  was  sunk 
down  to  the  level  of  that  beast. 

An  Indian  who  had  been  born  and  brought  up  at  Minisink, 
near  the  Delaware  Water  Gap,  and  to  whom  the  German  inhab 
itants  of  that  neighbourhood  had  given  the  name  of  Cornelius 
Rosenbaum,  told  me  near  fifty  years  ago,  that  he  had  once,  when 
under  the  influence  of  strong  liquor,  killed  the  best  Indian  friend 
he  had,  fancying  him  to  be  his  worst  avowed  enemy.  He  said 
that  the  deception  was  complete,  and  that  while  intoxicated, 
the  face  of  his  friend  presented  to  his  eyes  all  the  features  of  the 
man  with  whom  he  was  in  a  state  of  hostility.  It  is  impossible 
to  express  the  horror  with  which  he  was  struck  when  he  awoke 
from  that  delusion  ;  he  was  so  shocked,  that  he  from  that  mo 
ment  resolved  never  more  to  taste  of  the  maddening  poison,  of 
which  he  was  convinced  that  the  devil  was  the  inventor ;  for  it 
could  only  be  the  evil  spirit  who  made  him  see  his  enemy  when 
his  friend  was  before  him,  and  produced  so  strong  a  delusion  on 
his  bewildered  senses,  that  he  actually  killed  him.  From  that 
time  until  his  death,  which  happened  thirty  years  afterwards,  he 
never  drank  a  drop  of  ardent  spirits,  which  he  always  called 
"  the  Devil's  blood,"  and  was  firmly  persuaded  that  the  Devil,  or 
some  of  his  inferior  spirits  had  a  hand  in  preparing  it. 

Once  in  my  travels,  I  fell  in  with  an  Indian  and  his  son ;  the 
former,  though  not  addicted  to  drinking,  had  this  time  drank 
some  liquor  with  one  of  his  acquaintances,  of  which  he  now  felt 
the  effects.  As  he  was  walking  before  me,  along  the  path,  he  at 
once  flew  back  and  aside,  calling  out,  "O!  what  a  monstrous 
snake !  "  On  my  asking  him  where  the  snake  lay,  he  pointed  to 
something  and  said,  "  Why,  there,  across  the  path  !"  "A  snake !  " 
said  I,  "  it  is  nothing  but  a  black-burnt  sapling,  which  has  fallen 
on  the  ground."  He  however  would  not  be  persuaded ;  he  in 
sisted  that  it  was  a  snake,  and  could  be  nothing  else ;  therefore, 
to  avoid  it,  he  went  round  the  path,  and  entered  it  again  at  some 
distance  further.  After  we  had  travelled  together  for  about  two 
hours,  during  which  time  he  spoke  but  little,  we  encamped  for 
the  night.  Awaking  about  midnight,  I  saw  him  sitting  up 


DRUNKENNESS.  265 

smoking  his  pipe,  and  appearing  to  be  in  deep  thought.  I  asked 
him  why  he  did  not  lay  down  and  sleep?  To  which  he  replied, 
"  O  !  my  friend  !  many  things  have  crowded  on  my  mind ;  I  am 
quite  lost  in  thought !  " 

HECKEW.     "  And  what  are  you  thinking  about  ?  " 

INDIAN.  u  Did  you  say  it  was  not  a  snake  of  which  I  was 
afraid,  and  which  lay  across  the  path  ?  " 

HECKEW.  "  I  did  say  so  ;  and,  indeed,  it  was  nothing  else  but 
a  sapling  burnt  black  by  the  firing  of  the  woods." 

INDIAN.     "  Are  you  sure  it  was  that?  " 

HECKEW.  "Yes;  and  I  called  to  you  at  the  time  to  look,  how 
I  was  standing  on  it;  and  if  you  have  yet  a  doubt,  ask  your  son, 
and  the  two  Indians  with  me,  and  they  will  tell  you  the  same." 

INDIAN.  "  O  strange  !  and  I  took  it  for  an  uncommonly  large 
snake,  moving  as  if  it  intended  to  bite  me  !  —  I  cannot  get  over 
my  surprise,  that  the  liquor  I  drank,  and,  indeed,  that  was  not 
much,  should  have  so  deceived  me  !  but  I  think  I  have  now  dis 
covered  how  it  happens  that  Indians  so  often  kill  one  another 
when  drunk,  almost  without  knowing  what  they  are  doing ;  and 
when  afterwards  they  are  told  of  what  they  have  done,  they 
ascribe  it  to  the  liquor  which  was  in  them  at  the  time,  and  say 
the  liquor  did  it.  I  thought  that  as  I  saw  this  time  a  living 
snake  in  a  dead  piece  of  wood,  so  I  might,  at  another  time,  take 
a  human  being,  perhaps  one  of  my  own  family,  for  a  bear  or 
some  other  ferocious  beast  and  kill  him.  Can  you,  my  friend, 
tell  me  what  is  in  the  beson  that  confuses  one  so,  and  transforms 
things  in  that  manner?  Is  it  an  invisible  spirit?  It  must  be 
something  alive ;  or  have  the  white  people  sorcerers  among 
them,  who  put  something  in  the  liquor  to  deceive  those  who 
drink  it  ?  Do  the  white  people  drink  of  the  same  liquor  that 
they  give  to  the  Indians  ?  Do  they  also,  when  drunk,  kill 
people,  and  bite  noses  off,  as  the  Indians  do  ?  Who  taught 
the  white  people  to  make  so  pernicious  a  beson  ?  " 

I  answered  all  these  questions,  and  several  others  that  he  put 
to  me,  in  the  best  manner  that  I  could,  to  which  he  replied,  and 
our  conversation  continued  as  follows  : 

INDIAN.  "  Well,  if,  as  you  say,  the  bad  spirit  cannot  be  the 
inventor  of  this  liquor ;  if,  in  some  cases  it  is  moderately  used 
among  you  as  a  medicine,  and  if  your  doctors  can  prepare  from 


266  DRUNKENNESS. 

it,  or  with  the  help  of  a  little  of  it,  some  salutary  besons,  still,  I 
must  believe  that  when  it  operates  as  you  have  seen,  the  bad 
spirit  must  have  some  hand  in  it,  either  by  putting  some  bad 
thing  into  it,  unknown  to  those  who  prepare  it,  or  you  have  . 
conjurers  who  understand  how  to  bewitch  it. —  Perhaps  they 
only  do  so  to  that  which  is  for  the  Indians  ;  for  the  devil  is  not 
the  Indians'  friend,  because  they  will  not  worship  him,  as  they 
do  the  good  spirit,  and  therefore  I  believe  he  puts  something 
into  the  beson,  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  them." 

HECKEW.  "  What  the  devil  may  do  with  the  liquor,  I  cannot 
tell ;  but  I  believe  that  he  has  a  hand  in  everything  that  is  bad. 
When  the  Indians  kill  one  another,  bite  off  each  other's  noses, 
or  commit  such  wicked  acts,  he  is  undoubtedly  well  satisfied ; 
for,  as  God  himself  has  said,  he  is  a  destroyer  and  a  murderer." 

INDIAN.  "  Well,  now,  we  think  alike,  and  henceforth  he  shall 
never  again  deceive  me,  or  entice  me  to  drink  his  bcson." 
\  It  is  a  common  saying  with  those  white  traders  who  find  it 
their  interest  to  make  the  Indians  drunk,  in  order  to  obtain  their 
peltry  at  a  cheaper  rate,  that  they  will  have  strong  liquors,  and 
will  not  enter  upon  a  bargain  unless  they  are  sure  of  getting  it. 
I  acknowledge  that  I  have  seen  some  such  cases ;  but  I  could 
also  state  many  from  my  own  knowledge,  where  the  Indians  not 
only  refused  liquor,  but  resisted  during  several  days  all  the  at 
tempts  that  were  made  to  induce  them  even  to  taste  it,  being 
well  aware,  as  well  as  those  who  offered  it  to  them,  that  if  they 
once  should  put  it  to  their  lips,  such  was  their  weakness  on  that 
score,  that  intoxication  would  inevitably  follow. 
,  \  1  can,  perhaps,  offer  a  plausible  reason  why  the  Indians  are  so 
fond  of  spirituous  drinks.  The  cause  is,  I  believe,  to  be  found  in 
their  living  almost  entirely  upon  fresh  meats  and  green  vegeta 
bles,  such  as  corn,  pumpkins,  squashes,  potatoes,  cucumbers, 
melons,  beans,  &c.,  which  causes  a  longing  in  their  stomachs  for 
some  seasoning,  particularly  (as  is  often  the  case)  when  they 
have  been  a  long  time  without  salt.  They  are,  on  those  occa 
sions,  equally  eager  for  any  acid  substances  ;  vinegar,  if  they  can 
get  it,  they  will  drink  in  considerable  quantities,  and  think  noth 
ing  of  going  thirty  or  forty  miles  in  search  of  cranberries  whether 
in  season  or  not.  They  also  gather  crab-apples,  wild-grapes,  / 
and  other  acid,  and  even  bitter- tasted  fruits,  as  substitutes  for 


DRUNKENNESS.  267 

salt,  and  in  the  spring  they  will  peel  such  trees  as  have  a  sour 
ish  sap,  which  they  lick  with  great  avidity.  When  for  a  long 
time  they  have  been  without  salt,  and  are  fortunate  enough  to 
get  some,  they  will  swallow  at  a  time  a  table-spoonful  of  that 
mineral  substance,  for  which  they  say  that  they  and  their  horses 
are  equally  hungry. 

The  Indians  are  very  sensible  of  the  state  of  degradation  to 
which  they  have  been  brought  by  the  abuse  of  strong  liquors, 
and  whenever  they  speak  of  it,  never  fail  to  reproach  the  whites, 
for  having  enticed  them  into  that  vicious  habit.  I  could  easily 
prove  how  guilty  the  whites  are  in  this  respect,  if  I  were  to 
relate  a  number  of  anecdotes,  which  I  rather  wish  to  consign  to 
oblivion.  The  following  will  be  sufficient  to  confute  those  dis 
ingenuous  traders,  who  would  endeavour  to  shift  the  blame  from 
themselves,  in  order  to  fix  it  upon  the  poor  deluded  Indians. 

In  the  year  1769,  an  Indian  from  Susquehannah  having  come 
to  Bethlehem  with  his  sons  to  dispose  of  his  peltry,  was  accosted 
by  a  trader  from  a  neighbouring  town,  who  addressed  him  thus : 
"  Well !  Thomas,  I  really  believe  you  have  turned  Moravian." 
"  Moravian  !  "  answered  the  Indian,  "  what  makes  you  think  so  ?" 
"  Because,"  replied  the  other,  "  you  used  to  come  to  us  to  sell 
your  skins  and  peltry,  and  now  you  trade  them  away  to  the 
Moravians."  "So!"  rejoined  the  Indian,  "now  I  understand 
you  well,  and  I  know  what  you  mean  to  say.  Now  hear  me. 
See  !  my  friend !  when  I  come  to  this  place  with  my  skins  and 
peltry  to  trade,  the  people  are  kind,  they  give  me  plenty  of  good 
victuals  to  eat,  and  pay  me  in  money  or  whatever  I  want,  and  no 
one  says  a  word  to  me  about  drinking  rum  —  neither  do  I  ask 
for  it !  When  I  come  to  your  place  with  my  peltry,  all  call  to 
me:  'Come,  Thomas!  here's  rum,  drink  heartily,  drink!  it  will 
not  hurt  you.'  All  this  is  done  for  the  purpose  of  cheating  me. 
When  you  have  obtained  from  me  all  you  want,  you  call  me  a 
drunken  dog,  and  kick  me  out  of  the  room.  See  !  this  is  the 
manner  in  which  you  cheat  the  Indians  when  they  come  to  trade 
with  you.  So  now  you  know  when  you  see  me  coming  to  your 
town  again,  you  may  say  to  one  another  :  'Ah  !  there  is  Thomas 
coming  again  !  he  is  no  longer  a  Moravian,  for  he  is  coming  to 
us  to  be  made  drunk  —  to  be  cheated  —  to  be  kicked  out  of  the 
house,  and  be  called  a  drunken  dog  ! '  ' 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

FUNERALS. 

BELIEVE  that  no  sufficiently  detailed  account  has 
yet  been  given  of  the  manner  in  which  the  North 
American  Indians  conduct  the  funerals  of  their  dead. 
Captain  Carver  tells  us  that  the  Naudowessies, 
among  whom  he  was,  kept  those  ceremonies  a  secret,  and  would 
not  give  him  an  opportunity  of  witnessing  them.  Loskiel, 
although  he  drew  his  information  from  the  journals  of  our 
Missionaries,  has  treated  this  subject  rather  superficially.  I 
therefore  run  little  risk  of  repetition  in  describing  what  I  have 
myself  seen,  and  I  hope  that  the  particulars  which  I  am  going 
to  relate  will  not  be  thought  uninteresting. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  Indians  pay  great  respect  to  the 
memory  of  the  dead,  and  commit  their  remains  to  the  ground 
with  becoming  ceremonies.  Those  ceremonies,  however,  are 
not  the  same  in  all  cases,  but  vary  according  to  circumstances, 
and  the  condition  of  the  deceased  ;  for  rank  and  wealth  receive 
distinctions  even  after  death,  as  well  among  savages  as  among 
civilised  nations.  This,  perhaps,  may  be  easily  accounted  for. 
When  a  great  chief  dies,  his  death  is  considered  as  a  national 
loss ;  of  course  all  must  join  in  a  public  demonstration  of  their 
sorrow.  The  rich  man,  on  the  other  hand,  had  many  friends 
during  his  life,  who  cannot  decently  abandon  him  the  moment 
the  breath  is  out  of  his  body ;  besides,  his  fortune  supplies  the 
means  of  a  rich  entertainment  at  the  funeral,  of  which  many,  as 
may  well  be  supposed,  are  anxious  to  partake.  Thus  social  dis 
tinctions  are  found  even  in  the  state  of  nature,  where  perfect 

268 


FUNERALS.  269 

equality,  if  it  exists  any  where,  might  with  the  greatest  proba 
bility  be  supposed  to  be  found.  Though  the  earth  and  its  fruits 
are  common  to  all  the  Indians,  yet  every  man  is  permitted  to 
enjoy  the  earnings  of  his  industry,  and  that  produces  riches  ;  and 
/  though  there  is  no  hereditary  or  even  elective  rank  in  their  social 
organization,  yet  as  power  follows  courage  and  talents,  those  who 
are  generally  acknowledged  to  be  possessed  of  those  qualities, 
assume  their  station  above  the  rest,  and  the  distinction  of  rank 
is  thus  established.  Politicians  and  philosophers  may  reason  on 
these  facts  as  they  please ;  the  descriptions  that  I  give  are  from 
nature,  and  I  leave  it  to  abler  men  than  myself  to  draw  the 
proper  inferences  from  them. 

On  the  death  of  a  principal  chief,  the  village  resounds  from  one 
end  to  the  other  with  the  loud  lamentations  of  the  women,  among 
whom  those  who  sit  by  the  corpse  distinguish  themselves  by  the 
shrillness  of  their  cries  and  the  frantic  expression  of  their  sorrow. 
This  scene  of  mourning  over  the  dead  body  continues  by  day 
and  by  night  until  it  is  interred,  the  mourners  being  relieved 
from  time  to  time  by  other  women. 

These  honours  of  "  mourning  over  the  corpse  "  are  paid  to  all ; 
the  poor  and  humble,  as  well  as  the  rich,  great,  and  powerful ; 
the  difference  consists  only  in  the  number  of  mourners,  the  un 
distinguished  Indian  having  few  besides  his  immediate  relations 
and  friends,  and  sometimes  only  those.  Women  (notwithstand-  ./ 
ing  alt  that  has  been  said  of  their  supposed  inferior  station  and 
of  their  being  reduced  to  the  rank  of  slaves)  are  not  treated  after 
their  death  with  less  respect  than  the  men,  and  the  greatest 
honours  are  paid  to  the  remains  of  the  wives  of  renowned 
warriors  or  veteran  chiefs,  particularly  if  they  were  descended 
themselves  of  a  high  family,  which,  however  strange  it  may 
appear,  is  not  an  indifferent  thing  among  the  Indians,  who  love 
to  honour  the  merit  of  their  great  men  in  their  relatives.  I  was 
present  in  the  year  1762,  at  the  funeral  of  a  woman  of  the  high 
est  rank  and  respectability,  the  wife  of  the  valiant  Delaware 
chief  Sliingask ;v  as  all  the  honours  were  paid  to  her  at  her  in- 

1  [Shingask,  which  signifies  boggy  or  marshy  ground  overgrown  "with  grass,  a 
brother  of  Tamaqua,  or  King  Beaver,  ranked  first  among  Indian  warriors  in  the 
times  of  the  so-called  French  and  Indian  war.  The  frontiers  of  Pennsylvania  suffer- 


2/0  FUNERALS. 

terment  that  are  usual  on  such  occasions,  I  trust  a  particular 
description  of  the  ceremony  will  not  be  unacceptable. 

At  the  moment  that  she  died,  her  death  was  announced 
through  the  village  by  women  specially  appointed  for  that  pur 
pose,  who  went  through  the  streets  crying,  "  She  is  no  more  ! 
she  is  no  more  !  "  The  place  on  a  sudden  exhibited  a  scene  of 
universal  mourning ;  cries  and  lamentations  were  heard  from 
all  quarters ;  it  was  truly  the  expression  of  the  general  feeling 
for  a  general  loss. 

The  day  passed  in  this  manner  amidst  sorrow  and  desolation. 
The  next  morning,  between  nine  and  ten  o'clock,  two  counsellors 
came  to  announce  to  Mr.  Thomas  Calhoon,  the  Indian  trader, 
and  myself,  that  we  were  desired  to  attend  and  assist  at  the 
funeral  which  was  soon  to  take  place.  We,  in  consequence, 
proceeded  to  the  house  of  the  deceased,  where  we  found  her 
corpse  lying  in  a  coffin,  (which  had  been  made  by  Mr.  Calhoon's 
carpenter)  dressed  and  painted  in  the  most  superb  Indian  style. 
Her  garments,  all  new,  were  set  off  with  rows  of  silver  broaches,1 
one  row  joining  the  other.  Over  the  sleeves  of  her  new  ruffled 
shirt  were  broad  silver  arm-spangles  from  her  shoulder  down 
to  her  wrist,  on  which  were  bands,  forming  a  kind  of  mittens, 
worked  together  of  wampum,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  belts 
which  they  use  when  they  deliver  speeches.  Her  long  plaited 
hair  was  confined  by  broad  bands  of  silver,  one  band  joining  the 
other,  yet  not  of  the  same  size,  but  tapering  from  the  head  down 
ing  severely  from  the  forays  of  this  Delaware  and  his  braves,  Governor  Denny,  in 
1756,  set  a  price  of  £200  upon  his  head  or  scalp.  Mr.  Heckewelder,  in  a  "  Collec 
tion  of  the  Names  of  Chieftains  and  Eminent  Men  of  the  Delaware  Nation"  states 
that  Shingask,  although  an  implacable  foe  in  battle,  was  never  known  to  treat  a 
prisoner  with  cruelty.  "One  day,"  he  goes  on  to  say,  "in  the  summer  of  1762, 
while  passing  with  him  near  by  where  two  prisoners  of  his  —  boys  of  about  twelve 
years  of  age  —  were  amusing  themselves  with  his  own  boys,  as  the  chief  observed 
that  my  attention  was  arrested  by  them,  he  asked  me  at  what  I  was  looking.  Telling 
him  in  reply  that  I  was  looking  at  his  prisoners,  he  said,  '  When  I  first  took  them, 
they  were  such ;  but  now  they  and  my  children  eat  their  food  from  the  same  bowl  or 
dish ; '  which  was  equivalent  to  saying  that  they  were  in  all  respects  on  an  equal  foot 
ing  with  his  own  children,  or  alike  dear  to  him."] 

1  A  kind  of  round  buckle  with  a  tongue,  which  the  Indians  fasten  to  their  shirts. 
The  traders  call  them  broaches.  They  are  placed  in  rows,  at  the  distance  of  about 
the  breadth  of  a  finger  one  from  the  other. 


FUNERALS.  2/1 

wards  and  running  at  the  lower  end  to  a  point.  On  the  neck 
were  hanging  five  broad  belts  of  wampum  tied  together  at  the 
ends,  each  of  a  size  smaller  than  the  other,  the  largest  of  which 
reached  below  her  breast,  the  next  largest  reaching  to  a  few  inches 
of  it,  and  so  on,  the  uppermost  one  being  the  smallest.  Her 
scarlet  leggings  were  decorated  with  different  coloured  ribands 
sewed  on,  the  outer  edges  being  finished  off  with  small  beads  also 
of  various  colours.  Her  mocksens  were  ornamented  with  the 
most  striking  figures,  wrought  on  the  leather  with  coloured 
porcupine  quills,  on  the  borders  of  which,  round  the  ankles, 
were  fastened  a  number  of  small  round  silver  bells,  of  about  the 
size  of  a  musket  ball.  All  these  things,  together  with  the  ver 
milion  paint,  judiciously  laid  on,  so  as  to  set  her  off  in  the  high 
est  style,  decorated  her  person  in  such  a  manner,  that  perhaps 
nothing  of  the  kind  could  exceed  it. 

The  spectators  having  retired,  a  number  of  articles  were 
brought  out  of  the  house  and  placed  in  the  coffin,  wherever 
there  was  room  to  put  them  in,  among  which  were  a  new  shirt, 
a  dressed  deer  skin  for  shoes,  a  pair  of  scissors,  needles,  thread, 
a  knife,  pewter  basin  and  spoon,  pint-cup,  and  other  similar 
things,  with  a  number  of  trinkets  and  other  small  articles  which 
she  was  fond  of  while  living.  The  lid  was  then  fastened  on  the 
coffin  with  three  straps,  and  three  handsome  round  poles,  five 
or  six  feet  long,  were  laid  across  it,  near  each  other,  and  one  "in 
the  middle,  which  were  also  fastened  with  straps  cut  up  from  a 
tanned  elk  hide;  and  a  small  bag  of  vermilion  paint,  with  some 
flannel  to  lay  it  on,  was  then  thrust  into  the  coffin  through  the 
hole  cut  out  at  the  head  of  it.  This  hole,  the  Indians  say,  is  for 
the  spirit  of  the  deceased  to  go  in  and  out  at  pleasure,  until  it 
has  found  the  place  of  its  future  residence. 

Everything  being  in  order,  the  bearers  of  the  corpse  were 
desired  to  take  their  places.  Mr.  Calhoon  and  myself  were 
placed  at  the  foremost  pole,  two  women  at  the  middle,  and  two 
men  at  the  pole  in  the  rear.  Several  women  from  a  house  about 
thirty  yards  off,  now  started  off,  carrying  large  kettles,  dishes, 
spoons,  and  dried  elk  meat  in  baskets,  for  the  burial  place,  and 
the  signal  being  given  for  us  to  move  with  the  body,  the  women 
who  acted  as  chief  mourners  made  the  air  resound  with  their 


FUNERALS. 

shrill  cries.  The  order  of  the  procession  was  as  follows ;  first 
a  leader  or  guide,  from  the  spot  where  we  were  to  the  place  of 
interment.  Next  followed  the  corpse,  and  close  to  it  Shingask, 
the  husband  of  the  deceased.  He  was  followed  by  the  principal 
war-chiefs  and  counsellors  of  the  nation,  after  whom  came  men 
of  all  ranks  and  descriptions.  Then  followed  the  women  and 
children,  and  lastly  two  stout  men  carrying  loads  of  European 
manufactured  goods  upon  their  backs.  The  chief  mourners  on 
the  women's  side,  not  having  joined  the  ranks,  took  their  own 
course  to  the  right,  at  the  distance  of  about  fifteen  or  twenty 
yards  from  us,  but  always  opposite  to  the  corpse.  As  the  corpse 
had  to  be  carried  by  the  strength  of  our  arms  to  the  distance  of 
about  two  hundred  yards,  and  hung  low  between  the  bearers, 
we  had  to  rest  several  times  by  the  way,  and  whenever  we 
stopped,  everybody  halted  until  we  moved  on  again. 

Being  arrived  at  the  grave,  we  were  told  to  halt,  then  the  lid 
of  the  coffin  was  again  taken  off,  and  the  body  exposed  to  view. 
Now  the  whole  train  formed  themselves  into  a  kind  of  semi-lunar 
circle  on  the  south  side  of  the  grave,  and  seated  themselves  on 
the  ground.  Within  this  circle,  at  the  distance  of  about  fifteen 
yards  from  the  grave,  a  common  seat  was  made  for  Mr.  Calhoon 
and  myself  to  sit  on,  while  the  disconsolate  Shingask  retired  by 
himself  to  a  spot  at  some  distance,  where  he  was  seen  weeping, 
with  his  head  bowed  to  the  ground.  The  female  mourners  seated 
themselves  promiscuously  near  to  each  other,  among  some  low 
bushes  that  were  at  the  distance  of  from  twelve  to  fifteen  yards 
east  of  the  grave. 

In  this  situation  we  remained  for  the  space  of  more  than  two 
hours ;  not  a  sound  was  heard  from  any  quarter,  though  the 
numbers  that  attended  were  very  great;  nor  did  any  person 
move  from  his  seat  to  view  the  body,  which  had  been  lightly 
covered  over  with  a  clean  white  sheet.  All  appeared  to  be  in 
profound  reflection  and  solemn  mourning.  Sighs  and  sobs  were 
now  and  then  heard  from  the  female  mourners,  so  uttered  as 
not  to  disturb  the  assembly ;  it  seemed  rather  as  if  intended  to 
keep  the  feeling  of  sorrow  alive  in  a  manner  becoming  the  occa 
sion.  Such  was  the  impression  made  on  us  by  this  long  silence. 

At  length,  at  about  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  six  men 


FUNERALS.  273 

stepped  forward  to  put  the  lid  upon  the  coffin,  and  let  down 
the  body  into  the  grave,  when  suddenly  three  of  the  women 
mourners  rushed  from  their  seats,  and  forcing  themselves  be 
tween  these  men  and  the  corpse,  loudly  called  out  to  the 
deceased  to  "  arise  and  go  with  them  and  not  to  forsake  them." 
They  even  took  hold  of  her  arms  and  legs ;  at  first  it  seemed 
as  if  they  were  caressing  her,  afterwards  they  appeared  to  pull 
with  more  violence,  as  if  they  intended  .to  run  away  with  the 
body,  crying  out  all  the  while,  "  Arise,  arise  !  Come  with  us  ! 
Don't  leave  us !  Don't  abandon  us  !  "  At  last  they  retired, 
plucking  at  their  garments,  pulling  their  hair,  and  uttering  loud 
cries  and  lamentations,  with  all  the  appearance  of  frantic  despair. 
After  they  were  seated  on  the  ground,  they  continued  in  the 
same  manner  crying  and  sobbing  and  pulling  at  the  grass  and 
shrubs,  as  if  their  minds  were  totally  bewildered  and  they  did 
not  know  what  they  were  doing. 

As  soon  as  these  women  had  gone  through  their  part  of  the 
ceremony,  which  took  up  about  fifteen  minutes,  the  six  men 
whom  they  had  interrupted  and  who  had  remained  at. the  dis 
tance  of  about  five  feet  from  the  corpse,  again  stepped  forward 
and  did  their  duty.  They  let  down  the  coffin  into  the  earth, 
and  laid  two  thin  poles  of  about  four  inches  diameter,  from 
which  the  bark  had  been  taken  off,  lengthways  and  close 
together  over  the  grave,  after  which  they  retired.  Then  the 
husband  of  the  deceased  advanced  with  a  very  slow  pace,  and 
when  he  came  to  the  grave,  walked  over  it  on  these  poles,  and 
proceeded  forward  in  the  same  manner  into  an  extensive  adjoin 
ing  prairie,  which  commenced  at  this  spot. 

When  the  widowed  chief  had  advanced  so  far  that  he  could 
not  hear  what  was  doing  at  the  grave,  a  painted  post,  on  which 
were  drawn  various  figures,  emblematic  of  the1  deceased's  situ 
ation  in  life  and  of  her  having  been  the  wife  of  a  valiant  warrior, 
was  brought  by  two  men  and  delivered  to  a  third,  a  man  of  note, 
who  placed  it  in  such  a  manner  that  it  rested  on  the  coffin  at  the 
head  of  the  grave,  and  took  great  care  that  a  certain  part  of  the 
drawings  should  be  exposed  to  the  East,  or  rising  of  the  sun  ; 
then,  while  he  held  the  post  erect  and  properly  situated,  some 
women  filled  up  the  grave  with  hoes,  and  having  placed  dry 
18 


274  FUNERALS. 

leaves  and  pieces  of  bark  over  it,  so  that  none  of  the  fresh  ground 
was  visible,  they  retired,  and  some  men,  with  timbers  fitted 
beforehand  for  the  purpose,  enclosed  the  grave  about  breast- 
high,  so  as  to  secure  it  from  the  approach  of  wild  beasts. 

The  whole  work  being  finished,  which  took  up  about  an 
hour's  time,  Mr.  Calhoon  and  myself  expected  that  we  might 
be  permitted  to  go  home,  as  we  wished  to  do,  particularly  as 
we  saw  a  thundergust  from  the  west  fast  approaching ;  but  the 
Indians,  suspecting  our  design,  soon  came  forward  with  poles 
and  blankets,  and  in  a  few  minutes  erected  a  shelter  for  us. 

The  storm,  though  of  short  duration,  was  tremendous ;  the 
water  produced  by  the  rain,  flowing  in  streams  ;  yet  all  had 
found  means  to  secure  themselves  during  its  continuance,  and 
being  on  prairie  ground,  we  were  out  of  all  danger  of  trees  being 
torn  up  or  blown  down  upon  us.  Our  encampment  now  ap 
peared  like  a  village,  or  rather  like  a  military  camp,  such  was  the 
number  of  places  of  shelter  that  had  been  erected. 

Fortunately,  the  husband  of  the  deceased  had  reached  the 
camp  in  good  time,  and  now  the  gust  being  over,  every  one  was 
served  with  victuals  that  had  been  cooked  at  some  distance  from 
the  spot.  After  the  repast  was  over,  the  articles  of  merchandise 
which  had  been  brought  by  the  two  men  in  the  rear,  having  been 
made  up  in  parcels,  were  distributed  among  all  present.  No  one, 
from  the  oldest  to  the  youngest,  was  excepted,  and  every  one 
partook  of  the  liberal  donation.  This  difference  only  was  made, 
that  those  who  had  rendered  the  greatest  services  received  the 
most  valuable  presents,  and  we  were  much  pleased  to  see  the 
female  mourners  well  rewarded,  as  they  had,  indeed,  a  very  hard 
task  to  perform.  Articles  of  little  value,  such  as  gartering,  tape, 
needles,  beads,  and  the  like,  were  given  to  the  smaller  girls ;  the 
older  ones  received  a  pair  of  scissors,  needles  and  thread,  and  a 
yard  or  two  of  riband.  The  boys  had  a  knife,  jews-harp,  awl- 
blades,  or  something  of  similar  value.  Some  of  the  grown  per 
sons  received  a  new  suit  of  clothes,  consisting  of  a  blanket,  shirt, 
breech-cloth  and  leggings,  of  the  value  in  the  whole  of  about 
eight  dollars;  and  the  women,  (I  mean  those  who  had  rendered 
essential  services)  a  blanket,  ruffled  shirts,  stroud  and  leggings, 
the  whole  worth  from  ten  to  twelve  dollars.  Mr.  Calhoon  and 


FUNERALS.  2/5 

myself  were  each  presented  with  a  silk  cravat  and  a  pair  of  leg 
gings.  The  goods  distributed  on  this  occasion,  were  estimated 
by  Mr.  Calhoon  at  two  hundred  dollars ;  the  greatest  part  of 
them  had,  the  same  morning,  been  taken  out  of  his  store. 

After  we  had  thus  remained,  in  a  manner,  under  confinement, 
for  more  than  six  hours,  the  procession  ended,  and  Mr.  Calhoon 
and  myself  retired  with  the  rest  to  our  homes.  At  dusk  a  kettle 
of  victuals  was  carried  to  the  grave  and  placed  upon  it,  and  the 
same  was  done  every  evening  for  the  space  of  three  weeks,  at 
the  end  of  which  it  was  supposed  that  the  traveller  had  found 
her  place  of  residence.  During  that  time  the  lamentations  of 
the  women  mourners  were  heard  on  the  evenings  of  each  day, 
though  not  so  loud  nor  so  violent  as  before. 

I  have  thus  described,  from  minutes  which  I  took  at  the  time, 
the  ceremonies  which  take  place  among  the  Delaware  Indians  on 
the  death  of  a  person  of  high  rank  and  consideration  among 
them.  The  funerals  of  persons  of  an  inferior  station  are  con 
ducted  with  less  pomp  and  with  less  expense.  When  the  heirs 
of  the  deceased  cannot  afford  to  hire  female  mourners,  the  duty 
is  performed  by  their  own  immediate  relations  and  friends.  But 
"  mourning  over  the  corpse"  is  a  ceremony  that  cannot  be  dis 
pensed  with. 

It  is  always  customary,  when  an  Indian  dies,  of  whatever  rank 
or  condition  he  may  be,  to  put  a  number  of  the  articles  which 
belonged  to  the  deceased  in  the  coffin  or  grave,  that  he  may  have 
them  when  wanted.  I  have  seen  a  bottle  of  rum  or  whiskey 
placed  at  the  coffin  head,  and  the  reason  given  for  it  was,  that 
the  deceased  was  fond  of  liquor  while  living,  and  he  would  be 
glad  of  a  dram  when  he  should  feel  fatigued  on  his  journey  to 
the  world  of  spirits. 

When  an  Indian  dies  at  a  distance  from  his  home,  great  care 
is  taken  that  the  grave  be  well  fortified  with  posts  and  logs  laid 
upon  it,  that  the  wolves  may  be  prevented  from  getting  at  the 
corpse;  when  time  and  'circumstances  do  not  permit  this,  as,  for 
instance,  when  the  Indians  are  travelling,  the  body  is  enclosed 
in  the  bark  of  trees  and  thus  laid  in  the  grave.  When  a  death 
takes  place  at  their  hunting  camps,  they  make  a  kind  of  coffin 
as  well  as  they  can,  or  put  a  cover  over  the  body,  so  that  the 


2/6  FUNERALS. 

earth  may  not  sink  on  it,  and  then  enclose  the  grave  with  a  fence 
of  poles. 

Warriors  that  are  slain  in  battle,  are,  if  possible,  drawn  aside 
and  buried,  so  that  the  enemy  may  not  get  their  scalps,  and  also 
that  he  may  not  know  the  number  of  the  slain.  In  such  cases 
they  will  turn  an  old  log  out  of  its  bed,  and  dig  a  grave  so  deep, 
that  the  log,  when  replaced,  may  not  press  too  hard  upon  the 
body.  If  any  of  the  fresh  earth  be  seen,  they  cover  it  with  rot 
ten  wood,  brush  or  leaves,  that  its  place  may  not  be  found.  If 
they  have  not  sufficient  time  for  this,  or  the  number  of  their 
dead  is  too  great,  they  throw  the  bodies  on  the  top  of  each  other 
between  large  logs,  and  place  any  kind  of  rotten  wood  or  other 
rubbish  upon  them.  They  never,  when  they  can  help  it,  leave 
their  dead  to  be  devoured  by  wild  beasts. 

V~When  the  Indians  have  to  speak  of  a  deceased  person,  they 
never  mention  him  or  her  by  name,  lest  they  should  renew  the 
grief  of  the  family  or  friends.  They  say,  "  He  who  was  our  coun 
sellor  or  chief,"  "  She  who  was  the  wife  of  our  friend ;"  or  they 
will  allude  to  some  particular  circumstance,  as  that  of  the  de 
ceased  having  been  with  them  at  a  particular  time  or  place,  or 
having  done  some  particular  act  or  spoken  particular  words 
which  they  all  remember,  so  that  every  body  knows  who  is 
meant.  I  have  often  observed  with  emotion  this  remarkable 
delicacy,  which  certainly  does  honour  to  their  hearts,  and  shews 
that  they  are  naturally  accessible  to  the  tenderest  feelings  of 
humanity. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

FRIENDSHIP. 

IHOSE  who  believe  that  no  faith  is  to  be  placed  in  the  y 
friendship  of  an  Indian  are  egregiously  mistaken,  and 
know  very  little  of  the  true  character  of  those  men 
of  nature.  They  are,  it  is  true,  revengeful  to  their  / 
enemies,  to  those  who  wilfully  do  them  an  injury,  who  insult, 
abuse,  or  treat  them  with  contempt.  It  may  be  said,  indeed,.  J 
that  the  passion  of  revenge  is  so  strong  in  them  that  it  knows  no 
bounds.  This  does  not,  however,  proceed  from  a  bad  or  malicious 
disposition,  but  from  the  violence  of  natural  feelings  unchecked 
by  social  institutions,  and  unsubdued  by  the  force  of  revealed^ 
religion.  The  tender  and  generous  passions  operate  no  less 
powerfully  on  them  than  those  of  an  opposite  character,  and  they 
are  as  warm  and  sincere  in  their  friendship,  as  vindictive  in  their 
enmities.  Nay,  I  will  venture  to  assert  that  there  are  those 
among  them  who  on  an  emergency  would  lay  down  their  lives 
for  a  friend  :  I  could  fill  many  pages  with  examples  of  Indian 
friendship  and  fidelity,  not  only  to  each  other,  but  to  men  of 
other  nations  and  of  a  different  colour  than  themselves.  How 
often,  when  wars  were  impending  between  them  and  the  whites, 
have  they  not  forewarned  those  among  our  frontier  settlers 
whom  they  thought  well  disposed  towards  them,  that  danger 
ous  times  were  at  hand,  and  advised  them  to  provide  for  their 
own  safety,  regardless  of  the  jealousy  which  such  conduct  might 
excite  among  their  own  people  ?  How  often  did  they  not  even 
guard  and  escort  them  through  the  most  dangerous  places  until 
they  had  reached  a  secure  spot  ?  How  often  did  they  not  find 

277 


2/8  FRIENDSHIP. 

means  to  keep  an  enemy  from  striking  a  stroke,  as  they  call  it, 
that  is  to  say  from  proceeding  to  the  sudden  indiscriminate  mur 
der  of  the  frontier  whites,  until  their  friends  or  those  whom  they 
considered  as  such  were  out  of  all  danger  ? 

These  facts  are  all  familiar  to  every  one  who  has  lived  among 
Indians  or  in  their  neighbourhood,  and  I  believe  it  will  be  diffi 
cult  to  find  a  single  case  in  which  they  betrayed  a  real  friend  or 
abandoned  him  in  the  hour  of  danger,  when  it  was  in  their  power 
to  extricate  or  relieve  him.  The  word  "  Friend  "  to  the  ear  of  ' 
an  Indian  does  not  convey  the  same  vague  and  almost  indefinite 
meaning  that  it  does  with  us ;  it  is  not  a  mere  complimentary  or 
social  expression,  but  implies  a  resolute  determination  to  stand 
by  the  person  so  distinguished  on  all  occasions,  and  a  threat  to 
those  who  might  attempt  to  molest  him  ;  the  mere  looking  at 
two  persons  who  are  known  or  declared  friends,  is  sufficient  to 
deter  any  one  from  offering  insult  to  either.  When  an  Indian 
believes  that  he  has  reason  to  suspect  a  man  of  evil  designs 
against  his  friend,  he  has  only  to  say  emphatically  :  "  This  is  my 
friend,  and  if  any  one  tries  to  hurt  him,  I  will  do  to  him  what  is 
in  my  mind."  It  is  as  much  as  to  say  that  he  will  stand  in  his 
defence  at  the  hazard  of  his  own  life.  This  language  is  well 
understood  by  the  Indians,  who  know  that  they  would  have  to 
combat  with  a  spirited  warrior,  were  they  to  attempt  any  thing 
against  his  friend.  By  this  means  much  bloodshed  is  prevented; 
for  it  is  sufficiently  known  that  an  Indian  never  proffers  his 
friendship  in  vain.  Many  white  men,  and  myself  among  others, 
have  experienced  the  benefit  of  their  powerful  as  well  as  gener 
ous  protection. 

When  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1774,  a  war  broke  out  between 
the  Virginians  and  the  Shawanese  and  Mingoes,  on  account  of 
murders  committed  by  the  former  on  the  latter  people,  and  the 
exasperated  friends  of  those  who  had  suffered  had  determined  to 
kill  every  white  man  in  their  country,  the  Shawano  chief  Silver- 
heels}  taking  another  Indian  with  him,  undertook  out  of  friend 
ship  to  escort  several  white  traders  from  thence  to  Albany,2  a 

1  The  same  whom  I  have  spoken  of  above,  page  184,  No.  4. 

2  For  "Albany"  read  "Pittsburgh 


FRIENDSHIP.  279 

distance  of  near  two  hundred  miles ;  well  knowing  at  the  time 
that  he  was  running  the  risk  of  his  own  life,  from  exasperated 
Indians  and  vagabond  whites,  if  he  should  meet  with  such  on  the 
road,  as  he  did  in  fact  on  his  return.  I  have  already  said 
how  he  was  rewarded  for  this  noble  act  of  friendship  and  self- 
devotion. 

In  the  year  1779,  the  noted  Girty  with  his  murdering  party  of 
Mingoes,  nine  in  number,  fell  in  with  the  Missionary  Zeisberger, 
on  the  path  leading  from  Goschacking  to  Gnadenhiitten ;  their 
design  was  to  take  that  worthy  man  prisoner ;  and  if  they  could 
not  seize  him  alive,  to  murder  him  and  take  his  scalp  to  Detroit. 
They  were  on  the  point  of  laying  hold  of  him,  when  two  young 
spirited  Delawares  providentially  entered  the  path  at  that  critical 
moment  and  in  an  instant  presented  themselves  to  defend  the 
good  Missionary  at  the  risk  of  their  lives.  Their  determined 
conduct  had  the  desired  success,  and  his  life  was  saved.  His 
deliverers  afterwards  declared  that  they  had  no  other  motive  for 
thus  exposing  themselves  for  his  sake  than  that  he  was  a  friend 
to  their  nation,  and  was  considered  by  them  as  a  good  man. 

But  why  should  I  speak  of  others  when  I  have  myself  so 
often  experienced  the  benefits  of  Indian  protection  and  friend 
ship.  Let  me  be  permitted  to  corroborate  my  assertions  on  this 
subject  by  my  own  personal  testimony. 

In  the  year  1777,  while  the  Revolutionary  war  was  raging,  and 
several  Indian  tribes  had  enlisted  on  the  British  side,  and  were 
spreading  murder  and  devastation  along  our  unprotected  fron 
tier,  I  rather  rashly  determined  to  take  a  journey  into  the  country 
on  a  visit  to  my  friends.  Captain  White  Eyes,  the  Indian  hero, 
whose  character  I  have  already  described,1  resided  at  that  time 
at  the  distance  of  seventeen  miles  from  the  place  where  I  lived. 
Hearing  of  my  determination,  he  immediately  hurried  up  to  me, 
with  his  friend  Captain  Wingenund  (whom  I  shall  presently  have 
occasion  further  to  mention),  and  some  of  his  young  men,  for  the 
purpose  of  escorting  me  to  Pittsburg,  saying,  "  that  he  would  not 
suffer  me  to  go,  while  the  Sandusky  warriors  were  out  on  war 
excursions,  without  a  proper  escort  and  himself  at  my  side." 

1  See  ch.  15,  p.  151. 


280  FRIENDSHIP. 

He  insisted  on  accompanying  me  and  we  set  out  together.  One 
day,  as  we  were  proceeding  along,  our  spies  discovered  a  suspi 
cious  track.  White  Eyes,  who  was  riding  before  me,  enquired 
whether  I  felt  afraid  ?  I  answered  that  while  he  was  with  me,  I 
entertained  no  fear.  On  this  he  immediately  replied,  "  You  are 
right ;  for  until  I  am  laid  prostrate  at  your  feet,  no  one  shall 
hurt  you."  ''And  even  not  then,"  added  Wingenund,  who  was 
riding  behind  me ;  "  before  this  happens,  I  must  be  also  over 
come,  and  lay  by  the  side  of  our  friend  Koguethagechton"  l  I  be 
lieved  them,  and  I  believe  at  this  day  that  these  great  men  were 
sincere,  and  that  if  they  had  been  put  to  the  test,  they  would 
have  shewn  it,  as  did  another  Indian  friend  by  whom  my  life  was 
saved  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1781.  From  behind  a  log  in  the 
bushes  where  he  was  concealed,  he  espied  a  hostile  Indian  at  the 
very  moment  he  was  levelling  his  piece  at  me.  Quick  as  light 
ning  he  jumped  between  us,  and  exposed  his  person  to  the 
musket  shot  just  about  to  be  fired,  when  fortunately  the  aggres 
sor  desisted,  from  fear  of  hitting  the  Indian  whose  body  thus 
effectually  protected  me,  at  the  imminent  risk  of  his  own  life. 
Captain  White  Eyes,  in  the  year  1774,  saved  in  the  same  man 
ner  the  life  of  David  Duncan,  the  peace-messenger,  whom  he 
was  escorting.  He  rushed,  regardless  of  his  own  life,  up  to  an 
inimical  Shawanese,  who  was  aiming  at  our  ambassador  from 
behind  a  bush,  and  forced  him  to  desist. 

I  could  enumerate  many  other  similar  acts,  but  I  think  I  have 
shewn  enough  for  my  purpose.  Mr.  Zeisberger  fully  agreed  S 
with  me  in  the  opinion,  that  it  is  impossible  to  deny  to  the 
Indians  the  praise  of  firm  attachment  and  sincere  friendship.  It 
is  not  meant  to  say,  that  all  will  carry  that  feeling  to  the  same 
pitch  of  heroism ;  but  it  is  certain  that  there  are  many  among 
them,  whose  strong  attachments  and  a  manly  pride  will  induce 
to  risk  their  lives  in  the  defence  of  their  friends.  And,  indeed, 
there  is  no  Indian,  who  would  not  blush  at  being  reproached 
that  after  boasting  that  a  particular  person  was  his  friend,  he  had 
acted  the  coward  when  his  friendship  was  put  to  the  test,  and 
had  shrunk  from  venturing  his  own  life,  when  there  was  even  a 
chance  of  saving  that  of  the  man  whom  he  professed  to  love. 

1  The  Indian  name  of  Capt.  White  Eyes. 


FRIENDSHIP.  28l 

!  It  is  not  true,  as  some  have  supposed,  that  an  Indian's  friend 
ship  must  be  purchased  by  presents,  and  that  it  lasts  only  so 
long  as  gifts  continue  to  be  lavished  upon  them.  Their  attach- - 
ments,  on  the  contrary,  are  perfectly  disinterested.  I  admit  that 
they  receive  with  pleasure  a  present  from  a  friend's  hand.  They 
consider  presents  as  marks  of  the  giver's  good  disposition  towards 
them.  They  cannot,  in  their  opinion,  proceed  from  an  enemy, 
and  he  who  befriends  them,  they  think  must  love  them.  Obli 
gations  to  them  are  not  burdensome,  they  love  to  acknowledge 
them,  and  whatever  may  be  their  faults,  ingratitude  is  not  among 
the  number. 

Indeed,  the  friendship  of  an  Indian  is  easily  acquired,  provided  ^ 
it  is  sought  in  good  faith.  But  whoever  chooses  to  obtain  it 
must  be  sure  to  treat  them  on  a  footing  of  perfect  equality. 
They  are  very  jealous  of  the  whites,  who  they  think  affect  to 
consider  themselves  as  beings  of  a  superior  nature  and  too  often 
treat  them  with  rude  undeserved  contempt.  This  they  seldom 
forgive,  while  on  the  other  hand,  they  feel  flattered  when  a  white 
man  does  not  disdain  to  treat  them  as  children  of  the  same 
Creator.  Both  reason  and  humanity  concur  in  teaching  us  this 
conduct,  but  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  reason  and  humanity  are  in 
such  cases  too  little  attended  to.  I  hope  I  may  be  permitted  to 
expatiate  a  little  on  this  subject;  perhaps  it  may  be  beneficial  to 
some  white  persons  hereafter. 

The  Indians  are,  as  I  have  already  observed  before,1  excellent 
physiognomists.  If  they  are  accosted  by  or  engaged  in  business 
with  a  number  of  whites,  though  they  may  not  understand  the 
language  that  is  spoken,  they  will  pretty  accurately  distinguish 
by  the  countenance,  those  who  despise  their  colour  from  those 
who  are  under  the  influence  of  a  more  generous  feeling,  and  in 
this  they  are  seldom  mistaken.  They  fix  their  eyes  on  the  whole 
party  round,  and  read  as  it  were  in  the  souls  of  the  individuals 
who  compose  it.  They  mark  those  whom  they  consider  as  their 
friends,  and  those  whom  they  think  to  be  their  enemies,  and  are 
sure  to  remember  them  ever  after.  But  what  must  those  expect, 
if  a  war  or  some  other  circumstance  should  put  them  into  the 
power  of  the  Indians,  who,  relying  on  their  supposed  ignorance 

1 88. 


282  FRIENDSHIP. 

of  our  idiom,  do  not  scruple  even  in  their  presence  to  apply  to 
them  the  epithets  of  dogs,  black  d — Is,  and  the  like  ?  Will  not 
these  poor  people  be  in  some  degree  justifiable  in  considering 
those  persons  as  decidedly  hostile  to  their  race  ?  Such  cases 
have  unfortunately  too  frequently  happened,  and  the  savages  have 
been  blamed  for  treating  as  enemies  those  who  had  so  cruelly 
wounded  their  most  delicate  feelings  !  Many  white  men  have 
been  thus  put  to  death,  who  had  brought  their  fate  on  them 
selves  by  their  own  imprudence.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Indians 
have  not  failed  to  mark  those  who  at  the  time  reprobated  such 
indecent  behaviour  and  reproached  their  companions  for  using 
such  improper  language.  In  the  midst  of  war  these  benevolent 
Christians  have  been  treated  as  friends,  when,  perhaps,  they  had 
forgotten  the  humane  conduct  to  which  they  were  indebted  for 
this  kind  usage. 

Their  reasoning  in  such  cases  is  simple,  but  to  them  always 
conclusive.  They  merely  apply  their  constant  maxim,  which 
I  believe  I  have  already  noticed,  that  "  good  can  never  proceed 
from  evil  or  evil  from  good,  and  that  good  and  evil,  like  hetero 
geneous  substances,  can  never  combine  or  coalesce  together." 
How  far  this  maxim  is  founded  in  a  profound  knowledge  of 
human  nature,  it  is  not  my  business  to  determine;  what  is  cer 
tain  is  that  they  adhere  to  it  in  almost  every  occasion.  If  a  person 
treats  them  ill,  they  ascribe  it  invariably  to  his  bad  heart ;  it  is 
the  bad  spirit  within  him  that  operates ;  he  is,  therefore,  a  bad 
man.  If  on  the  contrary  one  shews  them  kindness,  they  say  he 
is  prompted  so  to  act  by  "  the  good  spirit  within  him,"  and  that 
he  has  a  good  heart ;  for  if  he  had  not,  he  would  not  do  good. 
H  It  is  impossible  to  draw  them  out  of  this  circle  of  reasoning,  and 
to  persuade  them  that  the  friendship  shewn  to  them  may  be  dis 
sembled  and  proceed  from  motives  of  interest ;  so  convinced  are 
they  of  the  truth  of  their  general  principle,  "  that  good  cannot 
proceed  from  an  evil  source." 

S  The  conduct  of  the  Europeans  towards  them,  particularly 
within  the  last  fifty  or  sixty  years,  has,  however,  sufficiently 
convinced  them  that  men  may  dissemble,  and  that  kind  speeches 
and  even  acts  of  apparent  friendship  do  not  always  proceed  from 
friendly  motives,  but  that  the  bad  spirit  will  sometimes  lurk 


FRIENDSHIP.  283 

under  the  appearance  of  the  good.  Hence,  when  they  speak  of 
the  whites  in  general,  they  do  not  scruple  to  designate  them  as 
a  false,  deceitful  race;  but  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  with  indi 
viduals,  they  frequently  forget  this  general  impression,  and  revert 
to  their  own  honest  principle ;  and  if  a  white  man  only  behaves 
to  them  with  common  humanity,  it  is  still  easy  to  get  access  to 
their  simple  hearts.  Such  are  those  brutes,  those  savages,  from 
whom,  according  to  some  men,  no  faith  is  to  be  expected,  and 
with  whom  no  faith  is  to  be  kept ;  such  are  those  barbarous 
nations,  as  they  are  called,  whom  God,  nevertheless,  made  the 
lawful  owners  and  masters  of  this  beautiful  country ;  but  who, 
at  no  very  remote  time,  will  probably  live,  partially  live,  only 
in  its  history. 

My  object  in  this  chapter  is  to  prove  that  those  men  are  sus 
ceptible  of  the  noblest  and  finest  feelings  of  genuine  friendship. 
It  is  not  enough  that  by  a  long  residence  among  them,  I  have 
acquired  the  most  complete  conviction  of  this  truth;  facts  and 
not  opinions,  I  know,  are  expected  from  me.  Perhaps  I  might 
rest  satisfied  with  the  proofs  that  I  have  already  given,  but  I 
have  only  shewn  the  strength  and  have  yet  to  display  the  con 
stancy  of  their  attachments ;  and  although  in  the  story  which  I 
am  going  to  relate, -a  friend  was  forced  to  see  his  friend  perish 
miserably  without  having  it  in  his  power  to  save  him  from  the 
most  terrible  death  that  vengeance  and  cruelty  could  inflict,  we 
shall  not  be  the  less  astonished  to  see  him  persevere  in  his 
friendly  sentiments,  under  circumstances  of  all  others  the  most 
calculated,  (particularly  to  an  Indian)  not  only  to  have  entirely 
extinguished,  but  converted  those  sentiments  into  feelings  of 
hatred  and  revenge. 

I  am  sorry  to  be  so  often  obliged  to  revert  to  the  circumstance 
of  the  cruel  murder  of  the  Christian  Indians  on  the  Sandusky  1 
river  2  in  the  year  1782,  by  a  gang  of  banditti,  under  the  com 
mand  of  one  Williamson.  Not  satisfied  with  this  horrid  outrage, 
the  same  band  not  long  afterwards  marched  to  Sandusky,3  where 

1  For  "Sandusky"  read  "Muskingum" 

2  See  above,  pages  81,  184. 

3  [Williamson  did  not  lead  the  expedition  against  vSandusky,  nor  was  it  organized 
for  the  destruction  of  the  Moravian  Indians,  then  in  the  Sandusky  country.     It  was 


284  FRIENDSHIP. 

it  seems  they  had  been  informed  that  the  remainder  of  that  unfor 
tunate  congregation  had  fled,  in  order  to  perpetrate  upon  them 
the  same  indiscriminate  murder.  But  Providence  had  so  ordered 
it  that  they  had  before  left  that  place,  where  they  had  found  that 
they  could  not  remain  in  safety,  their  ministers  having  been  taken 
from  them  and  carried  to  Detroit  by  order  of  the  British  govern 
ment,  so  that  they  had  been  left  entirely  unprotected.  The  mur 
derers,  on  their  arrival,  were  much  disappointed  in  finding  nothing 
but  empty  huts.  They  then  shaped  their  course  towards  the  hos 
tile  Indian  villages,  where  being,  contrary  to  their  expectations, 
furiously  attacked,  Williamson  and  his  band  took  the  advantage 
of  a  dark  night  and  ran  off,  and  the  whole  party  escaped,  except 
one  Colonel  Crawford  and  another,  who  being  taken  by  the  In 
dians  were  carried  in  triumph  to  their  village,  where  the  former 
was  condemned  to  death  by  torture,  and  the  punishment  was 
inflicted  with  all  the  cruelty  that  rage  could  invent.  The  latter 
was  demanded  by  the  Shawanese  and  sent  to  them  for  punish 
ment. 

While  preparations  were  making  for  the  execution  of  this 
dreadful  sentence,  the  unfortunate  Crawford  recollected  that  the 
Delaware  chief  Wingenund,1  of  whom  I  have  spoken  in  the 
beginning  of  this  chapter,  had  been  his  friend  in  happier  times  ; 

led  by  Colonel  William  Crawford.  Sanctioned  by  General  Irvine,  then  in  command 
of  the  Western  Department,  the  undertaking  was  intended  to  be  effectual  in  ending 
the  troubles  upon  the  western  frontiers  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  by  punishing 
the  Wyandots,  Shawanese,  Delawares,  and  Mingoes,  whose  war-parties  were  wont 
to  come  from  their  settlements  in  Sandusky,  to  kill  and  devastate  along  the  borders. 
See  Butterfield's  Crawford's  Campaign  against  Sandusky,  for  full  details  touching 
the  fitting  out  of  this  expedition,  its  disastrous  termination,  and  the  awful  death  by 
torture  of  its  commanding  officer. 

In  a  letter  written  by  Washington  to  General  Irvine,  and  dated  Headquarters,  6th 
August,  1782,  he  expresses  himself  in  the  following  words:  "  I  lament  the  failure  of 
the  expedition,  and  am  particularly  affected  with  the  disastrous  fate  of  Colonel  Craw 
ford.  No  other  than  the  extremest  torture  which  could  be  inflicted  by  the  savages, 
could,  I  think,  have  been  expected  by  those  who  were  unhappy  enough  to  fall  into 
their  hands,  especially  under  the  present  exasperation  of  their  minds  from  the  treat 
ment  given  their  Moravian  friends.  For  this  reason,  no  person  should  at  this  time 
suffer  himself  to  fall  alive  into  the  hands  of  the  Indians."  —  MS.  in  the  Irvine  Col 
lection.^ 

1  This  name,  according  to  the  English  orthography,  should  be  written  IVinganoond 
or  Wingaynoond,  the  second  syllable  accented  and  long,  and  the  last  syllable  short. 


FRIENDSHIP.  285 

he  had  several  times  entertained  him  at  his  house,  and  shewed 
him  those  marks  of  attention  which  are  so  grateful  to  the  poor 
despised  Indians.  A  ray  of  hope  darted  through  his  soul,  and 
he  requested  that  Wingenund,  who  lived  at  some  distance  from 
the  village,  might  be  sent  for.  His  request  was  granted,  and  a 
messenger  was  despatched  for  the  chief,  who,  reluctantly,  indeed, 
but  without  hesitation,  obeyed  the  summons,  and  immediately 
came  to  the  fatal  spot. 

This  great  and  good  man  was  not  only  one  of  the  bravest  and 
most  celebrated  warriors,  but  one  of  the  most  amiable  men  of  the 
Delaware  nation.  To  a  firm  undaunted  mind,  he  joined  humanity, 
kindness  and  universal  benevolence ;  the  excellent  qualities  of 
his  heart  had  obtained  for  him  the  name  of  Wingenund,  which  in 
the  Lenape  language  signifies  the  well  beloved.  He  had  kept 
away  from  the  tragical  scene  about  to  be  acted,  to  mourn  in 
silence  and  solitude  over  the  fate  of  his  guilty  friend,  which  he 
well  knew  it  was  not  in  his  power  to  prevent.  He  was  now 
called  upon  to  act  a  painful  as  well  as  difficult  part;  the  eyes 
of  his  enraged  countrymen  were  fixed  upon  him ;  he  was  an 
Indian  and  a  Delaware ;  he  was  a  leader  of  that  nation,  whose 
defenceless  members  had  been  so  cruelly,  murdered  without 
distinction  of  age  or  sex,  and  whose  innocent  blood  called 
aloud  for  the  most  signal  revenge.  Could  he  take  the  part  of 
a  chief  of  the  base  murderers  ?  Could  he  forget  altogether  the 
feelings  of  ancient  fellowship  and  give  way  exclusively  to  those 
of  the  Indian  and  the  patriot  ?  Fully  sensible  that  in  the  situa 
tion  in  which  he  was  placed  the  latter  must,  in  appearance,  at 
least,  predominate,  he  summoned  to  his  aid  the  firmness  and 
dignity  of  an  Indian  warrior,  approached  Colonel  Crawford  and 
waited  in  silence  for  the  communications  he  had  to  make.  The 
following  dialogue  now  took  place  between  them. 

CRAWF.     Do  you  recollect  me,  Wingenund  ? 

WINGEN.     I  believe  I  do  ;  are  you  not  Colonel  Crawford  ? 

CRAWF.  I  am.  How  do  you  do  ?  I  am  glad  to  see  you, 
Captain. 

WINGEN.     (embarrassed)  So!  yes,  indeed. 

CRAWF.  Do  you  recollect  the  friendship  that  always  existed 
between  us,  and  that  we  were  always  glad  to  see  each  other  ? 


286  FRIENDSHIP. 

WINGEN.  I  recollect  all  this.  I  remember  that  we  have  drunk 
many  a  bowl  of  punch  together.  I  remember  also  other  acts  of 
kindness  that  you  have  done  me. 

CRAWF.  Then  I  hope  the  same  friendship  still  subsists  be 
tween  us. 

WINGEN.  It  would,  of  course,  be  the  same,  were  you  in  your 
proper  place  and  not  here. 

CRAWF.  And  why  not  here,  Captain  ?  I  hope  you  would  not 
desert  a  friend  in  time  of  need.  Now  is  the  time  for  you  to  ex 
ert  yourself  in  my  behalf,  as  I  should  do  for  you,  were  you  in  my 
place. 

WINGEN.  Colonel  Crawford !  you  have  placed  yourself  in  a 
situation  which  puts  it  out  of  my  power  and  that  of  others  of 
your  friends  to  do  anything  for  you. 

CRAWF.     How  so,  Captain  Wingenund  ? 

WINGEN.  By  joining  yourself  to  that  execrable  man,  William 
son  and  his  party  ;  the  man  who,  but  the  other  day,  murdered 
such  a  number  of  the  Moravian  Indians,  knowing  them  to  be 
friends ;  knowing  that  he  ran  no  risk  in  murdering  a  people  who 
would  not  fight,  and  whose  only  business  was  praying. 

CRAWF.  Wingenund,  I  assure  you,  that  had  I  been  with  him 
at  the  time,  this  would  not  have  happened ;  not  I  alone  but  all 
your  friends  and  all  good  men,  wherever  they  are,  reprobate 
acts  of  this  kind. 

WINGEN.  That  may  be ;  yet  these  friends,  these  good  men 
did  not  prevent  him  from  going  out  again,  to  kill  the  remainder 
of  those  inoffensive,  ytf.  foolish  Moravian  Indians  !  I  say  foolish, 
because  they  believed  the  whites  in  preference  to  us.  We  had 
often  told  them  that  they  would  be  one  day  so  treated  by  those 
people  who  called  themselves  their  friends  !  We  told  them  that 
there  was  no  faith  to  be  placed  in  what  the  white  men  said ;  that 
their  fair  promises  were  only  intended  to  allure  us,  that  they 
might  the  more  easily  kill  us,  as  they  have  done  many  Indians 
before  they  killed  these  Moravians. 

CRAWF.  I  am  sorry  to  hear  you  speak  thus ;  as  to  William 
son's  going  out  again,  when  it  was  known  that  he  was  deter 
mined  on  it,  I  went  out  with  him  to  prevent  him  from  commit 
ting  fresh  murders. 


FRIENDSHIP.  287 

WINGEN.     This,  Colonel,  the  Indians  would  not  believe,  were 
even  I  to  tell  them  so. 

CRAWF.     And  why  would  they  not  believe  it  ? 
WINGEN.     Because  it  would  have  been  out  of  your  power  to 
prevent  his  doing  what  he  pleased. 

CRAWF.  Out  of  my  power!  Have  any  Moravian  Indians 
been  killed  or  hurt  since  we  came  out? 

WINGEN.  None  ;  but  you  went  first  to  their  town,  and  finding 
it  empty  and  deserted  you  turned  on  the  path  towards  us  ?  If 
you  had  been  in  search  of  warriors  only,  you  would  not  have 
gone  thither.  Our  spies  watched  you  closely.  They  saw  you 
while  you  were  embodying  yourselves  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Ohio ;  they  saw  you  cross  that  river ;  they  saw  where  you  en 
camped  at  night ;  they  saw  you  turn  off  from  the  path  to  the 
deserted  Moravian  town  ;  they  knew  you  were  going  out  of  your 
way  ;  your  steps  were  constantly  watched,  and  you  were  suffered 
quietly  to  proceed  until  you  reached  the  spot  where  you  were 
attacked. 

CRAWF.  What  do  they  intend  to  do  with  me  ?  Can  you  tell 
me? 

WINGEN.  I  tell  you  with  grief,  Colonel.  As  Williamson  and 
his  whole  cowardly  host,  ran  off  in  the  night  at  the  whistling  of 
our  warrior's  balls,  being  satisfied  that  now  he  had  no  Moravians 
to  deal  with,  but  men  who  could  fight,  and  with  such  he  did  not 
wish  to  have  anything  to  do  ;  I  say,  as  he  escaped,  and  they  have 
taken  you,  they  will  take  revenge  on  you  in  his  stead. 

CRAWF.  And  is  there  no  possibility  of  preventing  this?  Can 
you  devise  no  way  to  get  me  off?  You  shall,  my  friend,  be  well 
rewarded  if  you  are  instrumental  in  saving  my  life. 

WINGEN.  Had  Williamson  been  taken  with  you,  I  and  some 
friends,  by  making  use  of  what  you  have  told  me,  might  perhaps, 
have  succeeded  to  save  you,  but  as  the  matter  now  stands,  no 
man  would  dare  to  interfere  in  your  behalf.  The  king  of  Eng 
land  himself,  were  he  to  come  to  this  spot,  with  all  his  wealth 
and  treasures  could  not  effect  this  purpose.  The  blood  of  the 
innocent  Moravians,  more  than  half  of  them  women  and  chil 
dren,  cruelly  and  wantonly  murdered  calls  aloud  for  revenge. 
The  relatives  of  the  slain,  who  are  among  us,  cry  out  and  stand 
ready  for  revenge.  The  nation  to  which  they  belonged  will  have 


288  FRIENDSHIP. 

revenge.  The  Shawanese,  our  grandchildren,  have  asked  for 
your  fellow-prisoner;  on  him  they  will  take  revenge.  All  the 
nations  connected  with  us  cry  out  Revenge !  revenge !  The 
Moravians  whom  you  went  to  destroy  having  fled,  instead  of 
avenging  their  brethren,  the  offence  is  become  national,  and  the 
nation  itself  is  bound  to  take  REVENGE  ! 

CRAWF.  Then  it  seems  my  fate  is  decided,  and  I  must  prepare 
to  meet  death  in  its  worst  form  ? 

WINGEN.  Yes,  Colonel!  —  I  am  sorry  for  it;  but  cannot  do 
anything  for  you.  Had  you  attended  to  the  Indian  principle, 
that  as  good  and  evil  cannot  dwell  together  in  the  same  heart, 
so  a  good  man  ought  not  to  go  into  evil  company ;  you  would 
not  be  in  this  lamentable  situation.  You  see  now,  when  it  is 
too  late,  after  Williamson  has  deserted  you,  what  a  bad  man  he 
must  be !  Nothing  now  remains  for  you  but  to  meet  your  fate 
like  a  brave  man.  Farewell,  Colonel  Crawford !  they  are  com 
ing  ; 1  I  will  retire  to  a  solitary  spot. 

I  have  been  assured  by  respectable  Indians  that  at  the  close 
of  this  conversation,  which  was  related  to  me  by  Wingenund 
himself  as  well  as  by  others,  both  he  and  Crawford  burst  into  a 
flood  of  tears  ;  they  then  took  an  affectionate  leave  of  each  other, 
and  the  chief  immediately  hid  himself  in  the  bushes,  as  the  Indians 
express  it,  or  in  his  own  language,  retired  to  a  solitary  spot.  He 
never,  afterwards,  spoke  of  the  fate  of  his  unfortunate  friend 
without  strong  emotions  of  grief,  which  I  have  several  times 
witnessed.  Once,  it  was  the  first  time  that  he  came  into  Detroit 
after  Crawford's  sufferings,  I  heard  him  censured  in  his  own 
presence  by  some  gentlemen  who  were  standing  together  for 
not  having  saved  the  life  of  so  valuable  a  man,  who  was  also  his 
particular  friend,  as  he  had  often  told  them.  He  listened  calmly 
to  their  censure,  and  first  turning  to  me,  said  in  his  own  lan 
guage  :  "  These  men  talk  like  fools,"  then  turning  to  them,  he 
replied  in  English  :  "  If  king  George  himself,  if  your  king  had 
been  on  the  spot  with  all  his  ships  laden  with  goods  and  treas 
ures,  he  could  not  have  ransomed  my  friend,  nor  saved  his  life 
from  the  rage  of  a.  justly  exasperated  multitude."  He  made  no 

1  The  people  were  at  that  moment  advancing,  with  shouts  and  yells,  to  torture  and 
put  him  to  death. 


FRIENDSHIP.  289 

further  allusion  to  the  act  that  had  been  the  cause  of  Crawford's 
death,  and  it  was  easy  to  perceive  that  on  this  melancholy  sub 
ject,  grief  was  the  feeling  that  predominated  in  his  mind.  He 
felt  much  hurt,  however,  at  this  unjust  accusation,  from  men  who, 
perhaps,  he  might  think,  would  have  acted  very  differently  in 
his  place.  For,  let  us  consider  in  what  a  situation  he  found 
himself,  at  that  trying  and  critical  moment.  He  was  a  Delaware 
Indian,  and  a  highly  distinguished  character  among  his  nation. 
The  offence  was  national,  and  of  the  most  atrocious  kind,  as  it 
was  wanton  and  altogether  unprovoked.  He  might  have  been 
expected  to  partake  with  all  the  rest  of  his  countrymen  in  the 
strong  desire  which  they  felt  for  revenge.  He  had  been  Craw 
ford's  friend,  it  is  true,  and  various  acts  of  sociability  and  friend 
ship  had  been  interchanged  between  them.  But,  no  doubt,  at 
that  time,  he  believed  him,  at  least,  not  to  be  an  enemy  to  his 
nation  and  colour,  and  if  he  was  an  enemy,  he  might  have  ex 
pected  him  to  be,  like  himself,  a  fair,  open,  generous  foe.  But 
when  he  finds  him  enlisted  with  those  who  are  waging  a  war  of 
extermination  against  the  Indian  race,  murdering  in  cold  blood, 
and  without  distinction  of  age  or  sex,  even  those  who  had  united 
their  fate  to  that  of  the  whites,  and  had  said  to  the  Christians  : 
"  Your  people  shall  be  our  people,  and  your  God  our  God,"  l  was 
there  not  enough  here  to  make  him  disbelieve  all  the  former 
professions  of  such  a  man,  and  to  turn  his  abused  friendship  into 
the  most  violent  enmity  and  the  bitterest  rage?  Instead  of  this1 
we  see  him  persevering  to  the  last  in  his  attachment  to  a  person 
who,  to  say  the  least,  had  ceased  to  be  deserving  of  it ;  we  see 
him  in  the  face  of  his  enraged  countrymen  avow  that  friendship, 
careless  of  the  jealousy  that  he  might  excite ;  we  see  him  not 
only  abstain  from  participating  in  the  national  revenge,  but  de 
serting  his  post,  as  it  were,  seek  a  solitary  spot  to  bewail  the 
death  of  him,  whom,  in  spite  of  all,  he  still  loved,  and  felt  not 
ashamed  to  call  his  friend. 

It  is  impossible  for  friendship  to  be  put  to  a  severer  test,  and 
the  example  of  Wingenund  proves  how  deep  a  root  this  senti 
ment  can  take  in  the  mind  of  an  Indian,  when  even  such  circum 
stances  as  those  under  which  the  chief  found  himself,  fail  to  ex 
tinguish  it. 

19  1  Ruth,  i.  1 6. 


CHAPTER    XXXIX. 

PREACHERS  AND  PROPHETS. 

|HERE  was  a  time  when  the  preachers  and  prophets 
of  the  Indians,  by  properly  exerting  the  unbounded 
influence  which  the  popular  superstitions  gave  them, 
might  have  excited  among  those  nations  such  a  spirit 
of  general  resistance  against  the  encroachments  of  the  Europeans, 
as  would  have  enabled  them,  at  least,  to  make  a  noble  stand 
against  their  invaders,  and  perhaps  to  recover  the  undisturbed 
possession  of  their  country.  Instead  of  following  the  obvious 
course  which  reason  and  nature  pointed  out;  instead  of  uniting 
as  one  nation  in  defence  of  their  natural  rights,  they  gave  ear  to 
the  artful  insinuations  of  their  enemies,  who  too  well  understood 
the  art  of  sowing  unnatural  divisions  among  them.  It  was  not 
until  Canada,  after  repeated  struggles,  was  finally  conquered 
from  the  French  by  the  united  arms  *of  Great  Britain  and  her 
colonies,  that  they  began  to  be  sensible  of  their  desperate  situa 
tion —  this  whole  northern  continent  being  now  in  the  posses 
sion  of  one  great  and  powerful  nation,  against  whom  it  was 
vain  to  attempt  resistance.  Yet  it  was  at  this  moment  that  their 
prophets,  impelled  by  ambitious  motives,  began  to  endeavour 
by  their  eloquence  to  bring  them  back  to  independent  feelings, 
and  create  among  them  a  genuine  national  spirit;  but  it  was  too 
late.  The  only  rational  resource  that  remained  for  them  to  pre 
vent  their  total  annihilation  was  to  adopt  the  religion  and  man 
ners  of  their  conquerors,  and  abandon  savage  life  for  the  comforts 
of  civilised  society ;  but  of  this  but  a  few  of  them  were  sensible ; 
in  vain  Missionaries  were  sent  among  them,  who,  through  the 
greatest  hardships  and  dangers  exerted  themselves  to  soften  their 

290 


PREACHERS  AND  PROPHETS.  2QI 

misfortunes  by  the  consolations  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  to 
point  out  to  them  the  way  of  salvation  in  this  world  and  the  next; 
the  banner  of  Christ  was  comparatively  followed  but  by  small 
numbers,  and  these  were  persecuted  by  their  friends,  or,  at  least, 
those  who  ought  to  have  been  such,  as  well  as  by  their  enemies. 
Among  the  obstacles  which  the  Missionaries  encountered,  the 
strong  opposition  which  was  made  to  them  by  the  prophets  of 
the  Indian  nations  was  by  no  means  the  least. 

I  have  known  several  of  these  preachers  and  prophets  during 
my  residence  in  the  Indian  country,  and  have  had  sufficient 
opportunities  to  observe  the  means  which  they  took  to  operate 
on  the  minds  of  their  hearers.  I  shall  content  myself  with  taking 
notice  here  of  a  few  of  the  most  remarkable  among  them. 

In  the  year  1762,  there  was  a  famous  preacher  of  the  Delaware 
nation,  who  resided  at  Cayahaga,  near  Lake  Erie,  and  travelled 
about  the  country,  among  the  Indians,  endeavouring  to  persuade 
them  that  he  had  been  appointed  by  the  great  Spirit  to  instruct 
them  in  those  things  that  were  agreeable  to  him  and  to  point 
out  to  them  the  offences  by  which  they  had  drawn  his  dis 
pleasure  on  themselves,  and  the  means  by  which  they  might 
recover  his  favour  for  the  future.  He  had  drawn,  as  he  pre 
tended,  by  the  direction  of  the  great  Spirit,  a  kind  of  map  on  a 
piece  of  deer  skin,  somewhat  dressed  like  parchment,  which  he 
called  "the  great  Book  or  Writing."  This,  he  said,  he  had 
been  ordered  to  shew  to  the  Indians,  that  they  might  see  the 
situation  in  which  the  Mannitto  had  originally  placed  them,  the 
misery  which  they  had  brought  upon  themselves  by  neglecting 
their  duty,  and  the  only  way  that  was  now  left  them  to  regain 
what  they  had  lost.  This  map  he  held  before  him  while  preach 
ing,  frequently  pointing  to  particular  marks  and  spots  upon  it, 
and  giving  explanations  as  he  went  along. 

The  size  of  this  map  was  about  fifteen  inches  square,  or,  per 
haps,  something  more.  An  inside  square  was  formed  by  lines 
drawn  within  it,  of  about  eight  inches  each  way,  two  of  those 
lines,  however,  were  not  closed  by  about  half  an  inch  at  the 
corners.  Across  these  inside  lines,  others  of  about  an  inch 
in  length  were  drawn  with  sundry  other  lines  and  marks,  all 
which  was  intended  to  represent  a  strong  inaccessible  barrier, 


292  PREACHERS    AND     PROPHETS. 

to  prevent  those  without  from  entering  the  space  within,  other 
wise  than  at  the  place  appointed  for  that  purpose.  When  the 
map  was  held  as  he  directed,  the  corners  which  were  not  closed 
lay  at  the  left  hand  side,  directly  opposite  to  each  other,  the  one 
being  at  the  south-east  by  south,  and  the  nearest  at  the  north 
east  by  north.  In  explaining  or  describing  the  particular  points 
on  this  map,  with  his  fingers  always  pointing  to  the  place  he 
was  describing,  he  called  the  space  within  the  inside  lines  "  the 
heavenly  regions,"  or  the  place  destined  by  the  great  Spirit  for 
the  habitation  of  the  Indians  in  future  life;  the  space  left  open 
at  the  south-east  corner,  he  called  the  "  avenue,"  which  had  been 
intended  for  the  Indians  to  enter  into  this  heaven,  but  which  was 
now  in  the  possession  of  the  white  people,  wherefore  the  great 
Spirit  had  s.ince  caused  another  "  avenue  "  to  be  made  on  the 
opposite  side,  at  which,  however,  it  was  both  difficult  and 
dangerous  for  them  to  enter,  there  being  many  impediments  in 
their  way,  besides  a  large  ditch  leading  to  a  gulf  below,  over 
which  they  had  to  leap ;  but  the  evil  spirit  kept  at  this  very  spot 
a  continual  watch  for  Indians,  and  whoever  he  laid  hold  of, 
never  could  get  away  from  him  again,  but  was  carried  to  his 
regions,  where  there  was  nothing  but  extreme  poverty ;  where 
the  ground  was  parched  up  by  the  heat  for  want  of  rain,  no  fruit 
came  to  perfection,  the  game  was  almost  starved  for  want  of 
pasture,  and  where  the  evil  spirit,  at  his  pleasure,  transformed 
men  into  horses  and  dogs,  to  be  ridden  by  him  and  follow  him 
in  his  hunts  and  wherever  he  went. 

The  space  on  the  outside  of  this  interior  square,  was  intended 
to  represent  the  country  given  to  the  Indians  to  hunt,  fish,  and 
dwell  in  while  in  this  world  ;  the  east  side  of  it  was  called  the 
ocean  or  "  great  salt  water  Lake."  Then  the  preacher  drawing 
the  attention  of  his  hearers  particularly  to  the  south-east  avenue, 
would  say  to  them :  "  Look  here !  See  what  we  have  lost  by 
neglect  and  disobedience ;  by  being  remiss  in  the  expression  of 
our  gratitude  to  the  great  Spirit,  for  what  he  has  bestowed  upon 
us;  by  neglecting  to  make  to  him  sufficient  sacrifices;  by  look 
ing  upon  a  people  of  a  different  colour  from  our  own,  who  had 
come  across  a  great  lake,  as  if  they  were  a  part  of  ourselves  ;  by 
suffering  them  to  sit  down  by  our  side,  and  looking  at  them  with 


PREACHERS  AND  PROPHETS.  2Q3 

indifference,  while  they  were  not  only  taking  our  country  from 
us,  but  this  (pointing  to  the  spot),  this,  our  own  avenue,  leading 
into  those  beautiful  regions  which  were  destined  for  us.  Such  is 
the  sad  condition  to  which  we  are  reduced.  What  is  now  to  be 
done,  and  what  remedy  is  to  be  applied  ?  I  will  tell  you,  my 
friends.  Hear  what  the  great  Spirit  has  ordered  me  to  tell  you  ! 
You  are  to  make  sacrifices,  in  the  manner  that  I  shall  direct ;  to  put 
off  entirely  from  yourselves  the  customs  which  you  have  adopted 
since  the  white  people  came  among  us ;  you  are  to  return  to  that 
former  happy  state,  in  which  we  lived  in  peace  and  plenty,  before 
these  strangers  came  to  disturb  us,  and  above  all,  you  must 
abstain  from  drinking  their  deadly  beson,  which  they  have  forced 
upon  us,  for  the  sake  of  increasing  their  gains  and  diminishing 
our  numbers.  Then  will  the  great  Spirit  give  success  to  our 
arms ;  then  he  will  give  us  strength  to  conquer  our  enemies,  to 
drive  them  from  hence,  and  recover  the  passage  to  the  heavenly 
regions  which  they  have  taken  from  us." 

Such  was  in  general  the  substance  of  his  discourses.  After 
having  dilated  more  or  less  on  the  various  topics  which  I  have 
mentioned,  he  commonly  concluded  in  this  manner:  "And  npw, 
my  friends,  in  order  that  what  I  have  told  you  may  remain 
firmly  impressed  on  your  minds,  and  to  refresh  your  memories 
from  time  to  time,  I  advise  you  to  preserve,  in  every  family,  at 
least,  such  a  book  or  writing  as  this,  which  I  will  finish  off  for 
you,  provided  you  bring  me  the  price,  which  is  only  one  buck 
skin  or  two  doe-skins  a  piece."  l  The  price  was  of  course  bought,2 
and  the  book  purchased.  In  some  of  those  maps,  the  figure  of 
a  deer  or  turkey,  or  both,  was  placed  in  the  heavenly  regions, 
and  also  in  the  dreary  region  of  the  evil  spirit;  the  former,  how 
ever,  appeared  fat  and  plump,  while  the  latter  seemed  to  have 
nothing  but  skin  and  bones. 

I  was  also  well  acquainted  with  another  noted  preacher,  named 
Wangomend,  who  was  of  the  Monsey  tribe.  He  began  to  preach 
in  the  year  1766,  much  in  the  same  manner  as  the  one  I  have 
just  mentioned.  When  Mr.  Zeisberger  first  came  to  Goschgosch- 

1  Of  the  value  of  one  dollar. 
2 For  "bought"  read  "brought" 


2Q4  PREACHERS  AND  PROPHETS. 

ink  town 1  on  the  Allegheny  river,  this  Indian  prophet  became 
one  of  his  hearers,  but  rinding  that  the  Missionary's  doctrine 
did  not  agree  with  his  own,  he  became  his  enemy.  This  man 
also  pretended  that  his  call  as  a  preacher  was  not  of  his  own 
choice,  but  that  he  had  been  moved  to  it  by  the  great  and  good 
Spirit,  in  order  to  teach  his  countrymen,  who  were  on  the  way 
to  perdition,  how  they  could  become  reconciled  to  their  God. 
He  would  make  his  followers  believe  that  he  had  once  been 
taken  so  near  to  heaven,  that  he  could  distinctly  hear  the  crow 
ing  of  the  cocks,  and  that  at  another  time  he  had  been  borne  by 
unseen  hands  to  where  he  had  been  permitted  to  take  a  peep 
into  the  heavens,  of  which  there  were  three,  one  for  the  Indians, 
one  for  the  negroes,  and  another  for  the  white  people.  That  of 
the  Indians  he  observed  to  be  the  happiest  of  the  three,  and  that 
of  the  whites  the  unhappiest ;  for  they  were  under  chastisement 
for  their  ill  treatment  of  the  Indians,  and  for  possessing  them 
selves  of  the  land  which  God  had  given  to  them.  They  were 
also  punished  for  making  beasts  of  the  negroes,  by  selling  them 
as  the  Indians  do  their  horses  and  dogs,  and  beating  them  un 
mercifully,  although  God  had  created  them  as  well  as  the  rest  of 
mankind. 

The  novelty  of  these  visions  procured  him  hearers  for  a  time ; 
he  found,  however,  at  last,  that  the  Indians  became  indifferent 
to  his  doctrines,  particularly  as  he  frequently  warned  them  not 
to  drink  the  poison  brought  to  them  by  the  white  people,  of 
which  his  congregation  were  very  fond.  Then  he  bethought 
himself  of  a  more  popular  and  interesting  subject,  and  began  to 
preach  against  witchcraft  and  those  who  dealt  in  the  black  art. 
Here  he  had  all  the  passions  and  prejudices  of  the  poor  Indians 
on  his  side,  and  he  did  not  fail  to  meet  with  the  general  appro 
bation,  when  he  declared  to  them  that  wizards  were  getting 
the  upper  hand,  and  would  destroy  the  nation,  if  they  were  not 

1  [A  Monsey  settlement  near  the  mouth  of  the  Tionesta,  within  the  limits  of  the 
present  Venango  County.  It  was  visited  by  Mr.  Zeisberger  for  the  first  time  in  the 
autumn  of  1767  ;  in  the  following  year  it  became  the  seat  of  a  mission.  In  1770,  the 
Allegheny  was  exchanged  by  the  missionary  and  his  converts  for  the  Beaver.  Zeis- 
bergei's  labors  at  Goschgoschink  furnished  the  subject  for  Schussele's  historical 
painting,  "  The  Power  of  the  Gospel."] 


PREACHERS  AND  PROPHETS.  2Q5 

checked  in  their  career.  He  travelled  in  1775,  to  Goschachking, 
at  the  forks  of  the  Muskingum,  to  lay  this  business  before  the 
great  council  of  the  Delawares,  and  take  their  opinion  upon  it. 
The  first  report  which  the  Missionaries  on  the  Muskingum  heard 
on  this  subject,  was  that  the  chiefs  had  at  first  united  in  having 
every  conjurer  and  witch  in  the  nation  brought  to  an  account 
and  punished  with  death,  that,  however,  on  a  more  mature  con 
sideration,  they  had  thought  proper  in  the  first  place  to  ascertain 
the  number  and  names  not  only  of  those  who  were  known,  but 
even  of  those  who  were  suspected  of  dealing  in  sorcery,  and 
Wangomend  was  appointed  to  cause  the  enumeration  to  be 
made.  He  accordingly  hastily  set  off  for  his  home  ;  and  on  his 
arrival  immediately  entered  on  the  duties  of  his  mission ;  when 
behold !  it  was  discovered  that  the  number  of  offenders  was 
much  greater  than  had  been  at  first  imagined,  and  he  found  him 
self  in  danger  of  having  his  own  name  inserted  in  the  black 
list.  His  zeal,  in  consequence,  became  considerably  cooled,  and 
by  the  time  when  he  returned  the  chiefs  were  no  longer  disposed 
to  meddle  with  this  dangerous  subject,  justly  fearing  that  it 
could  not  but  terminate  in  the  ruin  of  their  nation.  Wango 
mend,  therefore,  returned  to  his  former  mode  of  preaching, 
recommending  to  his  hearers  to  purge  themselves  from  sin  by 
taking  certain  prescribed  medicines,  and  making  frequent  sacri 
fices  to  the  great  Spirit. 

The  last  whom  I  shall  take  notice  of  is  the  Prophet-warrior 
Tecumseh,  lately  so  celebrated  among  us,  and  who  lost  his  life 
in  the  last  war  at  the  battle  of  the  Thames,  on  the  3Oth  of  Sep 
tember,  1813,  at  the  age,  it  is  said,  of  43  years.  The  details  of 
his  military  life  have  been  made  sufficiently  known  through  the 
medium  of  journals  and  newspapers,  and  his  famous  speech  to 
the  British  general  Proctor  delivered  at  Amhertsburg,  a  short 
time  before  the  battle  which  decided  his  fate,  is  in  every  body's 
hands.1  But  his  character  as  a  prophet  and  the  means  that  he 
took  to  raise  himself  to  power  and  fame  are  not  so  well  nor  so 
particularly  understood,  although  it  is,  in  general,  admitted  that 
he  was  admirably  skilled  in  the  art  of  governing  Indians  through 

1  See  Nile's  Weekly  Register,  vol.  i.,  p.  141,  vol.  v.,  p.  174,  and  vol.  vi.,  p.  in. 


296  PREACHERS    AND    PROPHETS. 

the  medium  of  their  passions.     The  sketch  which  I  am  going  to 
draw  will  sufficiently  prove  how  well  this  opinion  is  founded. 

From  the  best  information  that  I  was  able  to  obtain  of  this 
man,  he  was  by  nation  a  Shawanese,  and  began  his  career  as  a 
preacher  much  in  the  manner  that  others  had  done  before  him. 
He  endeavoured  to  impress  upon  the  minds  of  his  Indian  hear 
ers,  that  they  were  a  distinct  people  from  the  whites,  that  they 
had  been  created  and  placed  on  this  soil  for  peculiar  purposes, 
and  that  it  had  been  ordered  by  the  supreme  being  that  they 
should  live  unconnected  with  people  of  a  different  colour  from 
their  own.  He  painted  in  vivid  colours,  the  misery  that  they 
had  brought  upon  themselves  by  permitting  the  whites  to  reside 
among  them,  and  urged  them  to  unite  and  expel  those  lawless 
intruders  from  their  country.  But  he  soon  discovered  that  these 
once  popular  topics  no  longer  produced  any  effect  on  the  minds 
of  the  dispirited  Indians,  and  that  it  was  impossible  to  persuade 
them  to  resort  to  strong  measures,  to  oppose  the  progress  of  the 
whites,  much  less  to  endeavour  to  drive  them  beyond  the  great 
lake.  He  had  long  observed  that  whenever  he  touched  on  the 
subject  of  witchcraft,  his  discourses  were  always  acceptable  to  his 
hearers,  whose  belief  in  those  supernatural  powers,  instead  of 
diminishing,  seemed  constantly  to  gain  ground.  He  knew  that 
his  predecessor,  Wangomend,  had  failed  in  his  endeavour  to  gain 
influence  and  power  by  availing  himself  of  these  popular  opin 
ions.  But  his  ill  success  did  not  deter  him  from  making  the 
same  attempts.  He  did  not,  however,  like  him,  seek  the  assist 
ance  of  the  national  councils,  but  boldly  determined  to  try  what 
his  talents  and  courage  could  do  without  any  other  aid.  There 
is  a  saying  among  the  Indians,  "  That  God  ordained  man  to  live 
until  all  his  teeth  are  worn  out,  his  eyesight  dim  and  his  hair 
grey."  Of  this  he  artfully  availed  himself  to  persuade  those  igno 
rant  people,  that  the  early  deaths  which  constantly  took  place 
could  not  be  attributed  to  any  natural  cause,  since  it  was  the  will 
of  God  that  every  man  should  live  to  an  advanced  old  age. 
When  he  found  that  he  had  thus  obtained  a  fast  hold  on  the 
minds  of  his  hearers,  by  raising  their  fears  of  the  powers  of  witch 
craft  to  the  highest  pitch,  he  thought  it  was  time  to  work  on 
their  hopes,  and  after  gradually  feeling  the  pulses  of  those  he  had 


PREACHERS  AND  PROPHETS.  297 

to  deal  with,  after  successively  throwing  out  a  great  number  of 
hints  and  insinuations,  the  effects  of  which  he  had  carefully  ob 
served,  he  at  last  did  what  no  preacher  before  him  had  ventured 
to  do,  by  declaring  that  the  great  Mannitto  had  endowed  him 
with  supernatural  powers,  to  foretel  future  events,  and  to  discover 
present  secrets,  and  that  he  could  point  out  with  certainty,  not 
only  those,  whether  men  or  women,  who  were  in  the  full  posses 
sion  of  the  art  of  witchcraft,  but  those  who  had  even  a  tincture 
of  it,  however  small.  His  bold  assertions  met  with  implicit  be 
lief,  and  he  obtained  by  that  means  such  an  unlimited  command 
over  a  credulous  multitude,  that  at  last,  he  had  only  to  speak 
the  word,  or  even  to  nod,  and  the  pile  was  quickly  prepared  by 
willing  executioners  to  put  to  death  whomsoever  he  thought 
proper  to  devote.  Here  was  a  wide  field  opened  for  the  gratifi 
cation  of  the  worst  passions.  Whoever  thought  himself  injured, 
denounced  his  enemy  as  a  wizard ;  the  least  real  or  pretended 
cause  of  resentment,  nay,  even  a  paltry  bribe,  would  bring  the 
most  innocent  man  to  the  pile  or  tomahawk,  and  no  one  availed 
himself  more  of  this  frantic  delusion  of  the  populace,  than  the 
great  prophet  himself.  Having  his  spies  out  in  every  direction,  he 
well  knew  who  were  his  friends  and  who  his  enemies,  and  wo  to 
all  who  were  reported  to  him  or  even  suspected  by  him  to  be 
of  the  latter  class  !  The  tyrant  had  only  to  will  their  deaths, 
and  his  commands  no  one  durst  contradict,  but  all  were  ready 
to  execute. 

Among  the  number  of  his  victims  was  the  venerable  Wyandot 
Chief  Sha-te-ya-ron-yah,  called  by  the  whites  Leather-lips.  He 
was  one  of  those  who  in  August,  1795,  signed  the  treaty  of 
Greenville  on  behalf  of  the  Huron  tribe.  His  only  crime  was 
honesty,  and  the  honourable  character  which  he  had  acquired. 
In  a  fit  of  jealousy  Tecumseh  ordered  him  to  be  put  to  death, 
and  his  commands  were  but  too  readily  obeyed.  I  cannot  con 
clude  this  chapter  better  than  by  an  account  of  his  death,  which 
was  transmitted  to  me  at  the  time  (in  August,  1810)  by  a  re 
spectable  and  philanthropic  gentleman  in  the  state  of  Ohio. 

The  relation  which  I  here  transcribe  was  accompanied  with 
the  following  letter : 


298  PREACHERS  AND  PROPHETS. 

"  DEAR  SIR  —  I  here  enclose  an  imperfect  sketch  of  the  execution  of 
an  unfortunate  Indian.  From  your  benevolent  exertions,  for  many 
years,  to  ameliorate  their  condition,  and  the  confidence  reposed  in  you 
by  them,  I  trust  you  may  have  it  in  your  power  successfully  to  oppose 
the  wasteful  influence  of  this  prophet  over  these  too  credulous  people. 
It  is  the  office  of  humanity  and  worthy  of  the  attention  of  the  Society 
of  the  United  Brethren.  I  may  be  incorrect  in  the  recital  of  some 
of  the  circumstances ;  it  was  given  to  me  from  respectable  sources ; 
sources,  in  my  opinion,  entitled  to  credit. 

"lam,  &c." 

ACCOUNT  OF  THE  DEATH  OF  LEATHER-LIPS. 
"This  unfortunate  Chief  of  the  Seneca1  tribe,  who  had  attained 
the  sixty-third  year  of  his  age,  had  pitched  his  camp  a  few  miles 
west  of  the  town  of  Worthington  in  the  county  of  Franklinton. 
From  his  constant  attachment  to  the  principles  of  honesty  and 
integrity,  he  had  obtained  a  certificate  from  an  officer  of  the  gov 
ernment  as  a  testimonial  of  the  propriety  of  his  deportment. 
This  aged  Chief  was  suspected  by  the  Prophet,  a  man  of  a  rest 
less,  turbulent  spirit,  who  by  his  exceeding  address,  has  obtained 
an  unbounded  influence  over  many  of  the  northern  and  western 
tribes  of  Indians,  by  impressing  upon  their  minds  a  belief  that 
he  is  endowed  with  supernatural  knowledge,  and  can  foretel 
events  yet  to  come.  This  is  the  same  prophet  who  gathered  the 
Indians  at  Greenville  a  few  years  ago,  from  which  meeting  so 
much  was  apprehended.  In  order  that  he  should  no  longer 
have  anything  to  apprehend  from  him  (this  Indian)  he  issued 
orders  for  his  immediate  death.  These  orders  were  given  to 
Crane?  a  chief  of  the  Sandusky  tribes,  who  immediately  sat  out 
with  four  other  Indians,  in  quest  of  the  old  chief.  About  three 
weeks  ago  they  found  out  his  camp,  and  immediately  sent  his 
brother  to  him  (who  was  one  of  their  party)  with  a  piece  of  bark, 
on  which  they  had  painted  a  tomahawk,  as  a  token  of  his  death ! 

1  This  appears  to  be  a  mistake ;  Leather-lips,  as  has  been  stated  above,  was  a 
chief  of  the  Wyandots  or  Hurons,  and  is  so  styled  in  the  treaty  of  Greenville,  other 
wise  called  Wayne's  Treaty,  where  he  was  one  of  the  representatives  of  that  nation. 

2  The  Indian  name  of  this  chief  was  Tar-he;  he  was  also  a  Wyandot  or  Huron, 
and  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Greenville  treaty.     How  great  must  have  been  the 
power  of  Tecumseh,  who  trusted  the  execution  of  Leather-lips  to  a  chief  of  the  same 
nation ! 


PREACHERS  AND  PROPHETS. 

On  the  same  day,  Crane  and  his  party  spoke  publicly  in  the  set 
tlements  of  the  whites  of  their  intention  to  kill  him.    When  they 
sat  out  for  his  camp  they  were  accompanied  by  five  white  men, 
amongst  whom  was  a  justice  of  the  peace,  no  doubt  to  gratify 
their  curiosity.     Upon  their  arrival  at  the  camp,  they  informed 
him  of  the  object  of  their  mission,  and  that  he  must  prepare  to 
meet  his  fate !     In  vain  did  he  remonstrate  against  the  cruelty 
of  the  sentence ;  he  told  them  that  he  was  an  old  man,  and  must 
soon  die ;  that  if  they  would  spare  him  they  might  have  his 
camp,  and  that  he  would  go  far  beyond  the  Mississippi,  where 
he  would  never  again  be  heard  of.     He  also  alleged  that  he  was 
a  man  of  honesty,  and  had  done  nothing  to  incur  so  hard  a  fate ! 
One  of  the  white  men  also  made  an  offer  of  his  horse,  to  save 
the  old  man  from  the  impending  storm.   Those  offers  all  proved 
ineffectual.     All  hopes  of  a  reconciliation  now  gone,  he  prepared 
to  meet  his  fate  with  becoming  dignity.    While  the  Indians  were 
digging  his  grave,  he  dressed  himself  with  his  best  clothes  in 
the  war  style,  and  then  got  his  venison  and  refreshed  himself. 
As  soon  as  the  grave  was  finished,  he  went  to  it  and  knelt  down 
and  prayed  most  fervently !     He  then  took  an  affectionate  leave 
of  the  Indians,  and  of  the  white  men  present,  and  when  he  came 
to  the  one  who  had  offered  his  horse  to  redeem  him,  penetrated 
with  gratitude,  he  burst  into  a  flood  of  tears,  and  told  him  that 
his  God  would  reward  him.     This  was  the  only  instance  in  which 
the  least  change  could  be  perceived  in  his  countenance.    He  was 
then  attended  to  the  grave  by  Crane  —  they  knelt  down,  while 
Crane  offered  up  to  the  great  Spirit  his  prayers  in  his  behalf. 
The  fatal  period  had  now  arrived  ;  they  arose  from  their  knees, 
and  proceeded  a  few  paces,  and  seated  themselves  on  the  ground. 
The  old  chief  inclined  forward,  resting  his  face  upon  his  hand, 
his  hand  upon  his  knees ;  while  thus  seated,  one  of  the  young 
Indians  came  up  and  struck  him  twice  with  the  tomahawk.     For 
some  time  he  lay  senseless  on  the  ground.     The  only  evidence 
of  life  that  yet  remained,  was  a  faint  respiration.     The  Indians 
all  stood  around  in  solemn  silence  ;  finding  him  to  respire  longer 
than  they  expected,  they  called  upon  the  whites  to  take  notice 
how  hard  he  died,  and  pronounced  him  a  witch  —  no  good  —  they 
struck  him  again  and  terminated  his  existence.     He  was  then 
borne  to  the  grave,  where  the  last  sad  office  was  soon  performed." 


CHAPTER  XL. 

SHORT   NOTICE   OF   THE   INDIAN  CHIEFS,   TAMANEND  AND 
TADEUSKUND. 

[HE  name  of  TAMANEND  is  held  in  the  highest  venera 
tion  among  the  Indians.  Of  all  the  chiefs  and  great 
men  which  the  Lenape  nation  ever  had,  he  stands 
foremost  on  the  list.  But  although  many  fabulous 
stories  are  circulated  about  him  among  the  whites,  but  little  of 
his  real  history  is  known.  The  misfortunes  which  have  befallen 
some  of  the  most  beloved  and  esteemed  personages  among  the 
Indians  since  the  Europeans  came  among  them,  prevent  the  sur 
vivors  from  indulging  in  the  pleasure  of  recalling  to  mind  the 
memory  of  their  virtues.  No  white  man  who  regards  their  feel 
ings,  will  introduce  such  subjects  in  conversation  with  them. 

All  we  know,  therefore,  of  Tamanend  is,  that  he  was  an  ancient 
Delaware  chief,  who  never  had  his  equal.1  He  was  in  the  highest 
degree  endowed  with  wisdom,  virtue,  prudence,  charity,  affability, 
meekness,  hospitality,  in  short  with  every  good  and  noble  quali 
fication  that  a  human  being  may  possess.  He  was  supposed  to 
have  had  an  intercourse  with  the  great  and  good  Spirit ;  for  he 
was  a  stranger  to  everything  that  is  bad. 

When  Colonel  George  Morgan,  of  Princeton  in  New  Jersey, 
was,  about  the  year  1776,  sent  by  Congress  as  an  agent  to  the 

1  [The  earliest  record  of  Tamanen  is  the  affix  of  his  mark  to  a  deed,  dated  23d  day 
of  the  4th  month,  1683,  by  which  he  and  Metamequan  conveyed  to  old  Proprietor 
Penn  a  tract  of  land,  lying  between  the  Pennypack  and  Neshaminy  creeks,  in  Bucks 
County. — Pennsylvania  Archives,  vol.  L,  p.  64.  Heckewelder  gives  the  signification 
of  the  Delaware  word  "  tamanen  "  as  affable."} 

300 


TAMANEND  AND  TADEUSKUND.  3OI 

western  Indians,  the  Delawares  conferred  on  him  the  name  of 
Tamanend  in  honour  and  remembrance  of  their  ancient  chief, 
and  as  the  greatest  mark  of  respect  which  they  could  shew  to 
that  gentleman,  who,  they  said,  had  the  same  address,  affability 
and  meekness  as  their  honoured  chief,  and  therefore,  ought  to 
be  named  after  him. 

The  fame  of  this  great  man  extended  even  among  the  whites, 
who  fabricated  numerous  legends  respecting  him,  which  I  never 
heard,  however,  from  the  mouth  of  an  Indian,  and  therefore  be 
lieve  to  be  fabulous.  In  the  Revolutionary  war,  his  enthusiastic 
admirers  dubbed  him  a  saint,  and  he  was  established  under  the 
name  of  St.  Tammany,  the  Patron  Saint  of  America.  His  name 
was  inserted  in  some  calendars,  and  his  festival  celebrated  on  the 
first  day  of  May  in  every  year.  On  that  day  a  numerous  society 
of  his  votaries  walked  together  in  procession  through  the  streets 
of  Philadelphia,  their  hats  decorated  with  bucks'  tails,  and  pro 
ceeded  to  a  handsome  rural  place  out  of  town  which  they  called 
the  Wigwam,  where,  after  a  long  talk  or  Indian  speech  had  been 
delivered,  and  the  Calumet  of  peace  and  friendship  had  been  duly 
smoked,  they  spent  the  day  in  festivity  and  mirth.  After  dinner, 
Indian  dances  were  performed  on  the  green  in  front  of  the  wig 
wam,  the  calumet  was  again  smoked,  and  the  company  separated. 
This  association  lasted  until  some  years  after  the  peace,  when 
the  public  spirited  owner  of  the  wigwam,  who  generously  had 
lent  it  every  year  for  the  honour  of  his  favourite  saint,  having 
fallen  under  misfortune,  his  property  was  sold  to  satisfy  his 
creditors,  and  this  truly  American  festival  ceased  to  be  observed. 
Since  that  time,  other  societies  have  been  formed  in  Philadelphia, 
New  York,  and  I  believe  in  other  towns  in  the  Union,  under  the 
name  of  Tammany;  but  the  principal  object  of  these  associations 
being  party-politics,  they  have  lost  much  of  the  charm  which  was 
attached  to  the  original  society  of  St.  Tammany,  which  appeared 
to  be  established  only  for  pleasure  and  innocent  diversion.  These 
political  societies,  however,  affect  to  preserve  Indian  forms  in 
their  organisation  and  meetings.  They  are  presided  over  by  a 
Grand  Sachem,  and  their  other  officers  are  designated  by  Indian 
titles.  They  meet  at  their  "  wigwam,"  at  the  "  going  down  of 
the  sun,"  in  the  months  of  snows,  plants,  flowers,  &c.  Their 
distinguishing  appellation  is  always  "  The  Tammany  Society." 


3O2  SHORT    NOTICE    OF    THE    INDIAN    CHIEFS 

TADEUSKUND,  or  Tedeuskimg,  was  the  last  Delaware  chief  in 
these  parts  east  of  the  Allegheny  mountains.  His  name  makes 
a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  history  of  Pennsylvania  previous  to 
the  revolution,  and  particularly  towards  the  commencement  of 
the  war  of  1756.  Before  he  was  raised  to  the  station  of  a  chief, 
he  had  signalised  himself  as  an  able  counsellor  in  his  nation.  In 
the  year  1749,  he  joined  the  Christian  Indian  congregation,  and 
the  following  year,  at  his  earnest  desire,  was  christened  by  the 
name  of  Cidem}  He  had  been  known  before  under  that  of 
Honest  John.  It  was  not  until  the  year  1754,  that  his  nation 
called  upon  him  to  assume  a  military  command.  The  French 
were  then  stirring  up  the  Indians,  particularly  the  Delawares,  to 
aid  them  in  fighting  the  English,  telling  them  that  if  they  suf 
fered  them  to  go  on  as  they  before  had  done,  they  would  very 
soon  not  have  a  foot  of  land  to  live  on.  The  Susquehannah  and 
Fork  Indians  (Delawares)  were  then  in  want  of  a  leading  char 
acter  to  advise  and  govern  them,  their  great,  good,  beloved  and 
peaceable  chief  Tademe,  (commonly  called  Tattemi)  having  some 
time  before  been  murdered  in  the  Forks  settlement  by  a  foolish 
young  white  man.2  They,  therefore,  called  upon  Tadeuskund 

1  [Tadeuskund  was  baptized  at  the  Gnadenhiitten  Mission,  (Lehighton,  Carbon 
County,  Pa.,)  by  the  Moravian  Bishop  Cammerhoff,  of  Bethlehem,  in  March  of  1750. 
For  additional  notices  of  this  prominent  actor  in  the  French  and  Indian  war,  extracted 
from  manuscripts  in  the  Archives  of  the  Moravian  Church  at  Bethlehem,  the  reader 
is  referred  to  Memorials  of  the  Moravian  Church,  vol.  i.,  edited  by  W.  C.  Reichel, 
Philadelphia,  1870.] 

2  [Moses  Tatemy  was  a  convert  of,  and  sometime  an  interpreter  for,  David  Brain- 
erd,  during  that  evangelist's  career  among  the  Delawares  of  New  Jersey  and  Pennsyl 
vania,  who  were  settled  on  both  sides  of  their  great  river,  between  its  forks  and  the 
Minisinks.     A  grant  of  upwards  of  ZOO  acres  of  land,  lying  on  the  east  branch  of 
Lehietan  or  Bushkill,  within  the  limits  of  the  present  Northampton  County,  Pa.,  was 
confirmed  to  the  chief  about  the  year  1737,  by  the  Proprietaries'  agents,  for  valuable 
services  rendered.     On  this  reservation,  Tatemy  was  residing  as  late  as  1753,  and 
probably  later.     He  was  there  a  near  neighbour  of  the  Moravians  at  Nazareth.     In 
the  interval  between  1756  and  1760,  he  participated  in  most  of  the  numerous  treaties 
and  conferences  between  the  Governors  of  the  Province  and  his  countrymen,  fre 
quently  in  the  capacity  of  an  interpreter.     Subsequent  to  the  last-mentioned  year, 
his  name  ceases  to  appear  on  the  Minutes  of  the  Provincial  Council.     He  probably 
died  in  1761.     Such  being  the  facts  in  the  case,  Mr.  Heckewelder  is  in  error  when 
he  states  that  Tatemy  lost  his  life  at  the  hands  of  a  white  man  prior  to  1754.     That 
a  son  of  the  old  chieftain,  Bill  Tatemy  by  name,  was  mortally  wounded  in  July  of 
'757>  by  a  young  man  in  the  Ulster-Scot  settlement,  (within  the  limits  of  Allen  town- 


TAMANEND  AND  TADEUSKUND.  303 

to  take  upon  himself  the  station  of  a  chief,  which,  having  ac 
cepted,  he  repaired  to  Wyoming,  whither  many  of  the  Fork 
Indians  followed  him. 

Whatever  might  have  been  Tadeuskund's  disposition  towards 
the  English  at  that  time,  it  is  certain  that  it  was  a  difficult  task 
for  him,  and  would  have  been  such  for  any  other  chief,  to  govern 
an  exasperated  people,  entirely  devoted  to  the  opposite  interest. 
This  may  account  for  his  not  having  always  succeeded  in  grati 
fying  our  government  to  the  extent  of  its  wishes.  Yet  he  did 
much  towards  lessening  the  cruelties  of  the  enemy,  by  keeping 
up  an  intercourse  with  the  governor  of  Pennsylvania,  and  occa 
sionally  drawing  many  from  the  theatre  of  war  and  murder,  to 
meet  the  colonial  authorities  at  Easton  or  Philadelphia  for  the 
negotiation  of  treaties,  by  which  means  fewer  cruelties  were  com 
mitted  than  would  otherwise  have  been. 

His  frequent  visits  to  the  governor  and  to  the  people  called 
Quakers  (to  whom  he  was  much  attached,  because  they  were 
known  to  be  friendly  to  the  Indians)  excited  much  jealousy 
among  some  of  his  nation,  especially  the  Monseys,  who  believed 
that  he  was  carrying  on  some  underhand  work  at  Philadelphia 
detrimental  to  the  nation  at  large ;  on  which  account,  and  as 
they  wished  the  continuation  of  the  war,  they  became  his 
enemies. 

From  the  precarious  situation  Tadcuskund  was  placed  in,  it 
was  easy  to  foresee  that  he  would  come  to  an  untimely  end. 
Perhaps  no  Indian  chief  before  him  ever  found  himself  so 
delicately  situated ;  mistrusted  and  blamed  by  our  government 
and  the  English  people  generally,  because  he  did  not  use  his 
whole  endeavours  to  keep  his  nation  at  peace,  or  compel  them 
to  lay  down  the  hatchet ;  and  accused  by  his  own  people  of 

ship,  Northampton  County,)  while  straying  from  a  body  of  Indians,  who  were  on 
their  way  from  Fort  Allen  to  Easton,  to  a  treaty,  is  on  record  in  the  official  papers  of 
that  day.  This  unprovoked  assault  upon  one  of  their  countrymen,  as  was  to  be  ex 
pected,  incensed  the  disaffected  Indians  to  such  a  degree,  that  Governor  Denny  was 
fain  to  assure  them,  at  the  opening  of  the  treaty,  that  the  offender  should  be  speedily 
brought  to  justice ;  at  the  same  time,  he  condoled  with  the  afflicted  father.  Bill  Tat- 
emy  died  near  Bethlehem,  from  the  effects  of  the  gun-shot  wound,  within  five  weeks. 
He  had  been  sometime  under  John  Brainerd's  teaching,  at  Cranberry,  N.  J.,  and  was 
a  professing  Christian.] 


304  SHORT    NOTICE    OF    THE    INDIAN    CHIEFS 

having  taken  a  bribe  from  the  English,  or  entered  into  some 
secret  agreement  with  them  that  would  be  of  benefit  to  himself 
alone,  as  he  would  not  suffer  them  to  inflict  just  punishment  on 
that  nation  for  the  wrongs  they  had  done  them,  but  was  con 
stantly  calling  upon  them  to  make  peace.  The  Five  Nations, 
on  the  other  hand,  (the  enemies  of  the  Delawares  and  in  alliance 
with  England,)  blamed  him  for  doing  too  much  for  the  cause 
which  they  themselves  supported,  for  making  himself  too  busy, 
and  assuming  an  authority,  which  did  not  belong  to  him  the 
leader  of  a  band  of  women,  but  to  them,  the  Five  Nations  alone. 

To  do  justice  to  this  injured  chief,  the  true  secret  of  his  ap 
parently  contradictory  conduct  must  be  here  disclosed.  It  is 
said  by  those  Indians  who  knew  him  best,  and  who  at  that  time 
had  the  welfare  of  their  own  nation  much  at  heart,  that  his  great 
and  sole  object  was  to  recover  for  the  Lenni  Lenape  that  dignity 
which  the  Iroquois  had  treacherously  wrested  from  them  ;  thence 
flowed  the  bitterness  of  the  latter  against  him,  though  he  seemed 
to  be  promoting  the  same  interest  which  they  themselves  sup 
ported.  He  had  long  hoped  that  by  shewing  friendship  and 
attachment  to  the  English,  he  would  be  able  to  convince  them 
of  the  justice  of  his  nation's  cause,  who  were  yet  powerful  enough 
to  make  their  alliance  an  object  to  the  British  government;  but 
here  he  was  greatly  mistaken.  No  one  would  examine  into  the 
grounds  of  the  controversy  between  the  Delawares  and  the  Five 
Nations ;  the  latter,  on  the  contrary,  were  supported  in  their  un 
just  pretensions  as  theretofore,  and  even  called  upon  to  aid  in 
compelling  the  Lenape  to  make  peace.  This  unjust  and  at  the 
same  time  impolitic  conduct,  of  which  I  have  before  taken  suf 
ficient  notice,1  irritated  to  the  utmost  the  spirited  nation  of 
the  Delawares,  they  felt  themselves  insulted  and  degraded,  and 
were  less  disposed  than  ever  from  complying  with  the  wishes  of 
a  government  which  sported  in  this  manner  with  their  national 
feelings,  and  called  in  question  even  their  right  to  exist  as  an 
independent  people. 

Surrounded  as  he  was  with  enemies,  Tadeuskund  could  not 
escape  the  fate  that  had  long  been  intended  for  him.  In  the 

1  See  above  page  67,  and  see  the  Errata  with  reference  to  that  page. 


TAMANEND  AND  TADEUSKUND.  305 

spring  of  1763,  when  the  European  nations  had  made  peace,  but 
the  Indians  were  still  at  war,  he  was  burnt  up,  together  with  his 
house,  as  he  was  lying  in  his  bed  asleep.  It  was  supposed  and 
believed  by  many  who  were  present,  that  this  dreadful  event  was 
not  accidental,  but  had  been  maturely  resolved  on  by  his  enemies, 
whoever  they  were,  and  that  the  liquor  which  was  brought  to 
Wyoming  at  the  time,  was  intended  by  them  for  the  purpose  of 
enticing  him  to  drink,  that  they  might  the  more  easily  effect  their 
purpose.  A  number  of  Indians  were  witnesses  to  the  fact  that 
the  house  was  set  on  fire  from  the  outside.  Suspicion  fell  princi 
pally  upon  the  Mingoes,  who  were  known  to  be  jealous  of  him, 
and  fearful  of  his  resentment,  if  he  should  succeed  in  insinuating 
himself  into  the  favour  of  the  English  and  making  good  terms 
with  them  for  his  nation.  It  is  said  that  those  Indians  were 
concerned  in  bringing  the  fatal  liquor  which  is  believed  to  have 
been  instrumental  to  the  execution  of  the  design. 

While  Tadeuskund  was  at  the  head  of  his  nation,  he  was  fre 
quently  distinguished  by  the  title  of  "  King  of  the  Delawares." 
While  passing  and  repassing  to  and  from  the  enemy  with  mes 
sages,  many  people  called  him  the  "  War  Trumpet."  In  his 
person  he  was  a  portly  well-looking  man,  endowed  with  good 
natural  sense,  quick  of  comprehension,  and  very  ready  in  an 
swering  the  questions  put  to  him.  He  was  rather  ambitious, 
thought  much  of  his  rank  and  abilities,  liked  to  be  considered  as 
the  king  of  his  country,  and  was  fond  of  having  a  retinue  with 
him  when  he  went  to  Philadelphia  on  business  with  the  govern 
ment.  His  greatest  weakness  was 'a  fondness  for  strong  drinks, 
the  temptation  of  which  he  could  not  easily  resist,  and  would 
sometimes  drink  to  excess.  This  unfortunate  propensity  is  sup 
posed  to  have  been  the  cause  of  his  cruel  and  untimely  death. 

20 


CHAPTER   XLI. 

COMPUTATION    OF    TIME  — ASTRONOMICAL    AND    GEOGRAPHICAL 

KNOWLEDGE. 

|HE  Indians  do  not  reckon  as  we  do,  by  days,  but  by 
nights.     They  say  :  "  It  is  so  many  nights'  travelling 
to  such  a  place ;  "  "I  shall  return  home  in  so  many 
nights,"  &c.    Sometimes  pointing  to  the  heavens  they 
say :  "  You  will  see  me  again  when  the  sun  stands  there." 

Their  year  is,  like  ours,  divided  into  four  parts:  spring,  sum 
mer,  autumn,  and  winter.  It  begins  with  the  spring,  which, 
they  say,  is  the  youth  of  the  year,  the  time  when  the  spirits  of 
man  begin  to  revive,  and  the  plants  and  flowers  again  put  forth. 
These  seasons  are  again  subdivided  into  months  or  moons,  each 
of  which  has  a  particular  name,  yet  not  the  same  among  all  the 
Indian  tribes  or  nations  ;  these  denominations  being  generally 
suited  to  the  climate  under  which  they  respectively  live,  and  the 
advantages  or  benefits  which  they  enjoy  at  the  time.  Thus  the 
Lenape,  while  they  inhabited  the  country  bordering  on  the  At 
lantic,  called  the  month  which  we  call  March,  "  the  shad  moon," 
because  this  fish  at  that  time  begins  to  pass  from  the  sea  into  the 
fresh  water  rivers,  where  they  lay  their  spawn ;  but  as  there  is 
no  such  fish  in  the  country  into  which  they  afterwards  removed, 
they  changed  the  name  of  that  month,  and  called  it  "  the  run 
ning  of  the  sap  "  or  "  the  .w/gYzr-making  month,"  because  it  is  at 
that  time  that  the  sap  of  the  maple  tree,  from  which  sugar  is 
made,  begins  to  run  ;  April,  they  call  "  the  spring  month,"  May, 
the  planting  month,  June,  the  fawn  month,  or  the  month  in 
which  the  deer  bring  forth  their  young,  or,  again,  the  month  in 

306 


COMPUTATION    OF    TIME.  3O/ 

which  the  hair  of  the  deer  changes  to  a  reddish  colour.  They 
call  July  the  summer  month  ;  August,  the  month  of  roasting  ears, 
that  is  to  say,  in  which  the  ears  of  corn  are  fit  to  be  roasted  and 
eaten.  September,  they  call  the  autumnal  month,  October,  the 
gathering  or  harvest  month;  December,  the  hunting  month,  it 
being  the  time  when  the  stags  have  all  dropped  their  antlers  or 
horns.  January  is  called  the  mouse  or  squirrel  month,  for  now 
those  animals  come  out  of  their  holes,  and  lastly,  they  call  Feb 
ruary  the  frog  month,  because  on  a  warm  day  the  frogs  then 
begin  to  croak. 

Some  nations  call  the  month  of  January  by  a  name  which 
denotes  "  the  sun's  return  to  them,"  probably  because  in  that 
month  the  days  begin  to  lengthen  again.  As  I  have  said  before, 
they  do  not  call  all  the  months  by  the  same  name ;  even  the  Mon- 
seys,  a  tribe  of  the  Delawares,  differ  among  themselves  in  the 
denominations  which  they  give  to  them. 

The  Indians  say  that  when  the  leaf  of  the  white  oak,  which 
puts  forth  in  the  spring,  is  of  the  size  of  the  ear  of  a  mouse,  it  is 
time  to  plant  corn ;  they  observe  that  now  the  whippoorwill  has 
arrived,  and  is  continually  hovering  over  them,  calling  out  his 
Indian  name  "Wekolis"  in  order  to  remind  them  of  the  planting 
time,  as  if  he  said  to  them  "  Hackiheck  !  go  to  planting  corn  !  " 

They  calculate  their  ages  by  some  remarkable  event  which 
has  taken  place  within  their  remembrance,  as,  for  instance,  an 
uncommonly  severe  winter,  a  very  deep  snow,  an  extraordinary 
freshet,  a  general  war,  the  building  of  a  new  town  or  city  by  the 
white  people,  &c.  Thus  I  have  heard  old  Indians  say  more  than 
fifty  years  ago,  that  when  their  brother  Miquon  spoke  to  their 
forefathers,  they  were  of  such  an  age  or  size,  they  could  catch 
butterflies,  or  hit  a  bird  with  the  bow  and  arrow.  I  have  heard 
others  say  (alluding  to  the  hard  winter  of  1739—40)  that  they 
were  born  at  that  time,  or  that  they  were  then  so  tall,  could  do 
certain  particular  things,  or  had  already  some  gray  hair  on  their 
heads.  When  they  could  not  refer  precisely  to  some  of  those 
remarkable  epochs,  they  would  say  "  so  many  winters  after." 

The  geographical  knowledge  of  the  Indians  is  really  astonish 
ing.  I  do  not  mean  the  knowledge  of  maps,  for  they  have  noth 
ing  of  the  kind  to  aid  them ;  but  their  practical  acquaintance 


308  COMPUTATION    OF    TIME: 

with  the  country  that  they  inhabit.  They  can  steer  directly 
through  the  woods  in  cloudy  weather  as  well  as  in  sunshine  to 
the  place  they  wish  to  go  to,  at  the  distance  of  two  hundred 
miles  and  more.  When  the  white  people  express  their  astonish 
ment,  or  enquire  how  they  can  hit  a  distant  point  with  so  much 
ease  and  exactness,  they  smile  and  answer:  "How  can  we  go 
wrong  when  we  know  where  we  are  to  go  to  ?  "  There  are  many 
who  conjecture  that  they  regulate  their  course  by  certain  signs 
or  marks  on  the  trees,  as  for  instance,  that  those  that  have  the 
thickest  bark  are  exposed  to  the  north,  and  other  similar  obser 
vations,  but  those  who  think  so  are  mistaken.  The  fact  is,  that 
the  Indians  have  an  accurate  knowledge  of  all  the  streams  of 
consequence  and  the  courses  which  they  run ;  they  can  tell 
directly  while  travelling  along  a  stream,  whether  large  or  small, 
into  what  larger  stream  it  empties  itself.  They  know  how  to 
take  the  advantage  of  dividing  ridges,  where  the  smaller  streams 
have  their  heads,  or  from  whence  they  take  their  source,  and  in 
travelling  on  the  mountains,  they  have  a  full  view  of  the  country 
round,  and  can  perceive  the  point  to  which  their  march  is  di 
rected. 

Their  knowledge  of  astronomy  is  very  limited.  They  have 
names  for  a  few  of  the  stars  and  take  notice  of  their  movements. 
The  polar  star  points  out  to  them  by  night  the  course  which  they 
are  to  take  in  the  morning.  They  distinguish  the  phases  of  the 
moon  by  particular  names ;  they  say  the  "  new  moon,"  the 
"  round  moon  "  (when  it  is  full),  and  when  in  its  decline,  they 
say  it  is  "  half  round." 

They  ascribe  earthquakes  to  the  moving  of  the  great  tortoise, 
which  bears  the  Island  (Continent)  on  its  back.  They  say  he 
shakes  himself  or  changes  his  position.  They  are  at  a  loss  how 
to  account  for  a  solar  or  lunar  eclipse ;  some  say  the  sun  or 
moon  is  in  a  swoon,  others  that  it  is  involved  in  a  very  thick 
cloud. 

A  constant  application  of  the  mind  to  observing  the  scenes 
and  accidents  which  occur  in  the  woods,  together  with  an  ardent 
desire  to  acquire  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  various  objects 
which  surround  them,  gives  them,  in  many  respects,  an  ad 
vantage  over  the  white  people,  which  will  appear  from  the 
following  anecdote. 


ASTRONOMICAL  AND   GEOGRAPHICAL   KNOWLEDGE.       309 

A  white  man  had,  at  his  camp  in  a  dark  night,  shot  an  Indian 
dog,  mistaking  it  for  a  wolf  which  had  the  night  before  entered 
the  encampment  and  eaten  up  all  the  meat.  The  dog  mortally 
wounded,  having  returned  to  the  Indian  camp  at  the  distance  of 
a  mile,  caused  much  grief  and  uneasiness  to  the  owner,  the  more 
so  as  he  suspected  the  act  had  been  committed  from  malice 
towards  the  Indians.  He  was  ordered  to  enquire  into  the 
matter,  and  the  white  man  being  brought  before  him,  candidly 
confessed  that  he  had  killed  the  dog,  believing  it  to  be  a  wolf. 
The  Indian  asked  him  whether  he  could  not  discern  the  differ 
ence  between  the  "  steps  "  or  trampling  of  a  wolf  and  that  of  a 
dog,  let  the  night  be  ever  so  dark  ?  The  white  man  answered 
in  the  negative,  and  said  he  believed  no  man  alive  could  do  that; 
on  which  the  whole  company  burst  out  into  laughter  at  the 
ignorance  of  the  whites  and  their  want  of  skill  in  so  plain  and 
common  a  matter,  and  the  delinquent  was  freely  forgiven. 


CHAPTER  XLII. 

GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS  AND  ANECDOTES. 

HOPE  I  shall  be  excused  for  bringing  here  together 
into  one  view  a  few  observations  and  anecdotes  which 
either  could  not  well  find  their  places  under  any  of 
the  preceding  divisions  of  my  subject,  or  escaped  my 
recollection  at  the  proper  time.  These  additional  traits  will 
contribute  something  to  forming  a  correct  idea  of  the  Indian 
character  and  manners. 

I  have  observed  a  great  similarity  in  the  customs,  usages,  and 
opinions  of  the  different  nations  that  I  have  seen,  however  dis 
tant  from  each  other,  and  even  though  their  languages  differ  so 
much  that  no  traces  of  a  common  origin  can  be  found  in  their 
etymology.  The  uniformity  which  exists  in  the  manners  of  the 
Christian  nations  of  Europe  is  attributed  to  their  common  relig 
ion,  and  to  their  having  once  been  connected  together  as  parts 
of  the  Roman  Empire.  But  no  such  bond  of  union  appears  to 
have  subsisted  between  the  Iroquois,  for  instance,  and  the  Dela- 
wares,  and  yet,  the  language  excepted,  they  resemble  each  other 
considerably  more  than  the  inhabitants  of  some  European  coun 
tries.  I  shall  not  endeavour  to  account  for  this  remarkable  fact, 
but  I  think  it  my  duty  to  state  it. 

I  have  shown  in  a  former  chapter1  that  the  mythological 
notions  of  the  Delaware  Indians  prevailed  in  the  same  manner 
among  the  Wabash ;  it  is  not  in  that  alone  that  those  nations 
resemble  each  other,  though  living  at  a  great  distance.  It  is  the 
custom  among  the  Delawares  that  if  a  hunter  shoots  down  a 

1  Ch.  34,  pp.  255,  256. 

310 


GENERAL    OBSERVATIONS    AND    ANECDOTES.          3!! 

deer  when  another  person  is  present,  or  even  accidentally  comes 
by  before  the  skin  is  taken  off,  he  presents  it  to  him,  saying, 
"  Friend,  skin  your  deer,"  and  immediately  walks  off.  William 
Wells,  whom  I  have  before  spoken  of,  once  paid  me  this  compli 
ment,  and  when  I  asked  him  the  reason,  he  answered  that  it  was 
the  custom  among  the  Indians  on  the  Wabash. 

In  the  year  1792,  I  travelled  with  a  number  of  Indian  chiefs 
of  various  tribes  from  Post  Vincennes  to  Marietta,  and  I  found 
in  most  instances  that  their  usages  and  customs  were  the  same 
that  I  had  observed  among  the  Delawares.1 

The  Indians  in  general,  although  they  understand  and  speak 
our  language,  yet  prefer  speaking  to  a  white  man  through  an 
interpreter.  For  this  they  give  various  reasons.  With  some  it 
is  a  matter  of  pride;  as  their  chiefs  deliver  their  public  speeches 
through  interpreters,  they  think  that  they  appear  with  more  dig 
nity  when  they  do  the  same.  Others  imagine  that  their  words 
will  have  greater  weight  and  effect  when  expressed  in  proper 

1  [These  chiefs  were  representatives  of  the  seven  nations  with  whom  Gen.  Putnam 
concluded  a  treaty  in  September  of  the  above-mentioned  year,  and  were  on  their  way 
to  Philadelphia. 

Note. — The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  letter  written  by  the  Secretary  of  War  to 
Mr.  Heckewelder,  advising  him  of  Putnam's  request  that  he  might  be  associated  with 
him  in  his  mission  to  the  western  Indians : 

"WAR  DEPARTMENT,  18  May,  1792. 

"  SIR. — I  have  the  honour  to  inform  you  that  the  United  States  have  for  some  time 
past  been  making  pacific  overtures  to  the  hostile  Indians  north-west  of  the  Ohio.  It 
is  to  be  expected  that  these  overtures  will  soon  be  brought  to  an  issue  under  the  di 
rection  of  Brigadier-General  Putnam,  of  Marietta,  who  is  specially  charged  with  this 
business. 

"  He  is  now  in  this  city,  and  will  be  in  readiness  to  set  out  on  Monday  next,  and 
being  acquainted  with  you,  he  is  extremely  desirous  that  you  should  accompany  him 
in  the  prosecution  of  this  good  work. 

"  Being  myself  most  cordially  impressed  with  a  respect  for  your  character  and 
love  of  the  Indians,  on  the  purest  principles  of  justice  and  humanity,  I  have  cheer 
fully  acquiesced  in  the  desire  of  Gen.  Putnam. 

"  I  hope  sincerely  it  may  be  convenient  for  you  to  accompany  or  follow  him  soon, 
in  order  to  execute  a  business  which  is  not  unpromising,  and  which,  if  accomplished, 
will  redound  to  the  credit  of  the  individuals  who  perform  it. 

"As  to  pecuniary  considerations,  I  shall  arrange  them  satisfactorily  with  you. 
"  With  great  respect,  I  am,  sir,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

"  H.  KNOX, 
Secretary  of   War."] 


312  GENERAL    OBSERVATIONS    AND    ANECDOTES. 

grammatical  language,  while  some  are  afraid  of  committing 
mistakes  when  speaking  in  an  idiom  not  their  own.  Particularly 
when  they  have  a  joke  to  pass,  a  hint  to  give,  or  a  shrewd  re 
mark  to  make,  they  wish  it  to  have  all  the  advantages  of  a  good 
translation,  and  that  their  wit  may  not  be  spoiled  by  a  foreign 
accent,  improper  expression,  or  awkward  delivery. 

Though  the  Indian  is  naturally  serious,  he  does  not  dislike  a 
jest  on  proper  occasions,  and  will,  sometimes,  even  descend  to 
a  pun.  Once  at  a  dinner  given  at  Marietta  by  the  late  Colonel 
Sproat,1  to  a  number  of  gentlemen  and  Indian  chiefs  of  various 
tribes,  a  Delaware  chief,  named  George  Washington,  asked  me 
what  the  name  of  our  good  friend,  the  Colonel,  meant  in  the 
Lenape  language  ?  It  should  be  observed  that  Colonel  Sproat 
was  remarkably  tall.  I  told  him  that  Sprout  (for  so  the  name  is 
pronounced)  meant  in  English  a  shoot,  or  twig  of  a  tree.  "  No, 
no,"  replied  the  Indian,  "  no  shoot  or  twig,  but  the  tree  itself." 

I  have  spoken  before 2  of  the  wit  of  the  Indians,  and  the  shrewd 
and  pointed  remarks  which  they  occasionally  make,  but  passed 
rather  lightly  on  the  subject.  A  few  characteristic  anecdotes 
will  best  supply  this  deficiency. 

An  Indian  who  spoke  good  English,  came  one  day  to  a  house 
where  I  was  on  business,  and  desired  me  to  ask  a  man  who  was 
there  and  who  owed  him  some  money,  to  give  an  order  in  writ 
ing  for  him  to  get  a  little  salt  at  the  store,  which  he  would  take 
in  part  payment  of  his  debt.  The  man,  after  reproving  the 
Indian  for  speaking  through  an  interpreter  when  he  could  speak 
such  good  English,  told  him  that  he  must  call  again  in  an  hour's 
time,  for  he  was  then  too  much  engaged.  The  Indian  went  out 
and  returned  at  the  appointed  time,  when  he  was  put  off  again 
for  another  hour,  and  when  he  came  the  third  time,  the  other 
told  him  he  was  still  engaged,  and  he  must  come  again  in  half 
an  hour.  My  Indian  friend's  patience  was  now  exhausted,  he 
turned  to  me  and  addressed  me  thus  in  his  own  language :  "Tell 
this  man,"  said  he,  "  that  while  I  have  been  waiting  for  his  con- 

1  [Col.  Ebenezer  Sproat  was  one  of  the  colony  which,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
recently  formed  Ohio  Company,  and  led  by  Gen.  Putnam,  emigrated  to  the  Ohio 
country  in  the  spring  of  1788,  and  founded  Marietta.] 

2Ch.  6,  p.  104. 


GENERAL    OBSERVATIONS    AND    ANECDOTES.  313 

venience  to  give  me  an  order  for  a  little  salt,  I  have  had  time  to 
think  a  great  deal.  I  thought  that  when  we  Indians  want  any 
thing  of  one  another,  we  serve  each  other  on  the  spot,  or  if  we 
cannot,  we  say  so  at  once,  but  we  never  say  to  any  one  '  call 
again!  call  again!  call  again!  three  times  call  again  !'  There 
fore  when  this  man  put  me  off  in  this  manner,  I  thought  that,  to 
be  sure,  the  white  people  were  very  ingenious,  and  probably  he 
was  able  to  do  what  no  body  else  could.  I  thought  that  as  it 
was  afternoon  when  I  first  came,  and  he  knew  I  had  seven  miles 
to  walk  to  reach  my  camp,  he  had  it  in  his  power  to  stop  the 
sun  in  its  course,  until  it  suited  him  to  give  me  the  order  that  I 
wanted  for  a  little  salt.  So  thought  I,  I  shall  still  have  day  light 
enough,  I  shall  reach  my  camp  before  night,  and  shall  not  be 
obliged  to  walk  in  the  dark,  at  the  risk  of  falling  and  hurting 
myself  by  the  way.  But  when  I  saw  that  the  sun  did  not  wait 
for  him,  and  I  had  at  least  to  walk  seven  miles  in  an  obscure 
night,  I  thought  then,  that  it  would  be  better  if  the  white  people 
were  to  learn  something  of  the  Indians." 

I  once  asked  an  old  Indian  acquaintance  of  mine,  who  had 
come  with  his  wife  to  pay  me  a  visit,  where  he  had  been,  that  I 
had  not  seen  him  for  a  great  while?  "  Don't  you  know,"  he 
answered,  "  that  the  white  people  some  time  ago  summoned  us 
to  a  treaty,  to  buy  land  of  them  P"1 — "That  is  true,"  replied  I, 
"  I  had  indeed  forgotten  it ;  I  thought  you  was  just  returned  from 
your  fall  hunt." — "  No,  no,"  replied  the  Indian,  "  my  fall  hunt 
has  been  lost  to  me  this  season ;  I  had  to  go  and  get  my  share 
of  the  purchase  money  for  the  land  we  sold." — "  Well  then,^ 
said  I,  "  I  suppose  you  got  enough  to  satisfy  you  ?  " 

INDIAN.  "  I  can  shew  you  all  that  I  got.  I  have  received  such 
and  such  articles,  (naming  them  and  the  quantity  of  each),  do 
you  think  that  is  enough  ?  " 

HECKEW.  "  That  I  cannot  know,  unless  you  tell  me  how 
much  of  the  land  which  was  sold  came  to  your  share." 

INDIAN,  (after  considering  a  little),  "  Well,  you,  my  friend ! 
know  who  I  am,  you  know  I  am  a  kind  of  chief.  I  am,  indeed, 
one,  though  none  of  the  greatest.  Neither  am  I  one  of  the 

1  For"tfom"  read  "us." 


314          GENERAL    OBSERVATIONS    AND    ANECDOTES. 

lowest  grade,  but  I  stand  about  in  the  middle  rank.  Now,  as 
such,  I  think  I  was  entitled  to  as  much  land  in  the  tract  we  sold 
as  would  lie  within  a  day's  walk  from  this  spot  to  a  point  due 
north,  then  a  day's  walk  from  that  point  to  another  due  west, 
from  thence  another  day's  walk  due  south,  then  a  day's  walk  to 
where  we  now  are.  Now  you  can  tell  me  if  what  I  have  shewn 
you  is  enough  for  all  the  land  lying  between  these  four  marks  ?  " 

HECKEW.  "  If  you  have  made  your  bargain  so  with  the 
white  people,  it  is  all  right,  and  you  probably  have  received 
your  share." 

INDIAN.  "  Ah !  but  the  white  people  made  the  bargain  by 
themselves,  without  consulting  us.  They  told  us  that  they 
would  give  us  so  much,  and  no  more." 

HECKEW.     "  Well,  and  you  consented  thereto  ?  " 

INDIAN.  "  What  could  we  do,  when  they  told  us  that  they 
must  have  the  land,  and  for  such  a  price  ?  Was  it  not  better 
to  take  something  than  nothing?  for  they  would  have  the  land, 
and  so  we  took  what  they  gave  us." 

HECKEW.  "  Perhaps  the  goods  they  gave  you  came  high  in 
price.  The  goods  which  come  over  the  great  salt  water  lake 
sometimes  vary  in  their  prices." 

INDIAN.  "  The  traders  sell  their  goods  for  just  the  same  prices 
that  they  did  before,  so  that  I  rather  think  it  is  the  land  that  has 
fallen  in  value.  We,  Indians,  do  not  understand  selling  lands  to 
the  white  people ;  for  when  we  sell,  the  price  of  land  is  always 
low ;  land  is  then  cheap,  but  when  the  white  people  sell  it  out 
among  themselves,  it  is  always  dear,  and  they  are  sure  to  get 
a  high  price  for  it.  I  had  done  much  better  if  I  had  stayed  at 
home  and  minded  my  fall  hunt.  You  know  I  am  a  pretty  good 
hunter  and  might  have  killed  a  great  many  deer,  sixty,  eighty, 
perhaps  a  hundred,  and  besides  caught  many  raccoons,  beavers, 
otters,  wild  cats,  and  other  animals,  while  I  was  at  this  treaty. 
I  have  often  killed  five,  six,  and  seven  deer  in  one  day.  Now 
I  have  lost  nine  of  the  best  hunting  weeks  in  the  season  by 
going  to  get  what  you  see !  We  were  told  the  precise  time 
when  we  must  meet.  We  came  at  the  very  day,  but  the  great 
white  men  did  not  do  so,  and  without  them  nothing  could  be 
done.  When  after  some  weeks  they  at  last  came,  we  traded, 


GENERAL    OBSERVATIONS    AND    ANECDOTES.  315 

we  sold  our  lands  and  received  goods  in  payment,  and  when 
that  was  over,  I  went  to  my  hunting  grounds,  but  the  best 
time,  the  rutting  time,  being  over,  I  killed  but  a  few.  Now,  help 
me  to  count  up  what  I  have  lost  by  going  to  the  treaty.  Put 
down  eighty  deer;  say  twenty  of  them  were  bucks,  each  buck 
skin  one  dollar ;  then  sixty  does  and  young  bucks  at  two  skins 
for  a  dollar;  thirty  dollars,  and  twenty  for  the  old  bucks, 
make  fifty  dollars  lost  to  me  in  deer  skins.  Add,  then,  twenty 
dollars  more  to  this  for  raccoon,  beaver,  wild  cat,  black  fox,  and 
otter  skins,  and  what  does  the  whole  amount  to  ?  " 

HECKEW.     "  Seventy  dollars." 

INDIAN.  "  Well,  let  it  be  only  seventy  dollars,  but  how  much 
might  I  have  bought  of  the  traders  for  this  money !  How  well 
we  might  have  lived,  I  and  my  family  in  the  woods  during  that 
time  !  How  much  meat  would  my  wife  have  dried  !  how  much 
tallow  saved  and  sold  or  exchanged  for  salt,  flour,  tea  and  choco 
late  !  All  this  is  now  lost  to  us  ;  and  had  I  not  such  a  good 
wife  (stroking  her  under  the  chin)  who  planted  so  much  corn, 
and  so  many  beans,  pumpkins,  squashes,  and  potatoes  last  sum 
mer,  my  family  would  now  live  most  wretchedly.  I  have  learned 
to  be  wise  by  going  to  treaties,  I  shall  never  go  there  again  to 
sell  my  land  and  lose  my  time." 

I  shall  conclude  this  desultory  chapter  with  another  anecdote 
which  is  strongly  characteristic  of  the  good  sense  of  the  Indians 
and  shews  how  much  their  minds  are  capable  of  thought  and 
reflection. 

Seating  myself  once  upon  a  log,  by  the  side  of  an  Indian,  who 
was  resting  himself  there,  being  at  that  time  actively  employed 
in  fencing  in  his  corn-field,  I  observed  to  him  that  he  must  be 
very  fond  of  working,  as  I  never  saw  him  idling  away  his  time, 
as  is  so  common  with  the  Indians.  The  answer  which  he  re 
turned  made  considerable  impression  on  my  mind;  I  have 
remembered  it  ever  since,  and  I  shall  try  to  relate  it  as  nearly  in 
his  own  words  as  possible. 

"  My  friend  !  "  said  he,  "  the  fishes  in  the  water  and  the  birds 
in  the  air  and  on  the  earth  have  taught  me  to  work;  by  their 
examples  I  have  been  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  labour  and 
industry.  When  I  was  a  young  man  I  loitered  a  great  deal 


316  GENERAL    OBSERVATIONS    AND    ANECDOTES. 

about,  doing  nothing,  just  like  the  other  Indians,  who  say  that 
working  is  only  for  the  whites  and  the  negroes,  and  that  the  In 
dians  have  been  ordained  for  other  purposes,  to  hunt  the  deer, 
and  catch  the  beaver,  otter,  raccoon  and  such  other  animals.  But 
it  one  day  so  happened,  that  while  a  hunting,  I  came  to  the  bank 
of  the  Susquehannah,  where  I  sat  down  near  the  water's  edge 
to  rest  a  little,  and  casting  my  eye  on  the  water,  I  was  forcibly 
struck  when  I  observed  with  what  industry  the  Meechgalingus* 
heaped  small  stones  together,  to  make  secure  places  for  their 
spawn,  and  all  this  labour  they  did  with  their  mouths  and  bodies 
without  hands  !  Astonished  as  well  as  diverted,  I  lighted  my 
pipe,  sat  a  while  smoking  and  looking  on,  when  presently  a 
little  bird  not  far  from  me  raised  a  song  which  enticed  me  to 
look  that  way;  while  I  was  trying  to  distinguish  who  the  song 
ster  was,  and  catch  it  with  my  eyes,  its  mate,  with  as  much  grass 
as  with  its  bill  it  could  hold,  passed  close  by  me  and  flew  into  a 
bush,  where  I  perceived  them  together  busy  building  their  nest 
and  singing  as  they  went  along.  I  entirely  forgot  that  I  was  a 
hunting,  in  order  to  contemplate  the  objects  I  had  before  me. 
I  saw  the  birds  of  the  air  and  the  fishes  in  the  water  working 
diligently  and  cheerfully,  and  all  this  without  hands  !  I  thought 
it  was  strange,  and  became  lost  in  contemplation  !  I  looked  at 
myself,  I  saw  two  long  arms,  provided  with  hands  and  fingers 
besides,  with  joints  that  might  be  opened  and  shut  at  pleasure. 
I  could,  when  I  pleased,  take  up  anything  with  these  hands,  hold 
it  fast  or  let  it  loose,  and  carry  it  along  with  me  as  I  walked.  I 
observed  moreover  that  I  had  a  strong  body  capable  of  bearing 
fatigue,  and  supported  by  two.  stout  legs,  with  which  I  could 
climb  to  the  top  of  the  highest  mountains  and  descend  at  pleas 
ure  into  the  valleys.  And  is  it  possible,  said  I,  that  a  being  so 
formed  as  I  am,  was  created  to  live  in  idleness,  while  the  birds 
who  have  no  hands,  and  nothing  but  their  little  bills  to  help 
them,  work  with  cheerfulness  and  without  being  told  to  do  so  ? 
Has  then  the  great  Creator  of  man  and  of  all  living  creatures 
given  me  all  these  limbs  for  no  purpose  ?  It  cannot  be ;  I  will 
try  to  go  to  work.  I  did  so,  and  went  away  from  the  village  to 
a  spot  of  good  land,  built  a  cabin,  enclosed  ground,  planted  corn, 

1  Sun-fish. 


GENERAL    OBSERVATIONS    AND    ANECDOTES.  317 

and  raised  cattle.  Ever  since  that  time  I  have  enjoyed  a  good 
appetite  and  sound  sleep ;  while  the  others  spend  their  nights 
in  dancing  and  are  suffering  with  hunger,  I  live  in  plenty ;  I 
keep  horses,  cows,  hogs  and  fowls ;  I  am  happy.  See !  my 
friend;  the  birds  and  fishes  have  brought  me  to  reflection  and 
taught  me  to  work  !  " 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

ADVICE   TO   TRAVELLERS. 

>OTHING  is  so  common  as  the  indiscriminate  charge 
laid  upon  travellers  of  relating  strange  and  wonderful 
things  for  the  mere  purpose  of  exciting  admiration 
and  raising  themselves  into  consequence.  I  believe 
for  my  part  that  this  accusation  is  in  general  unjust  as  well  as 
unfair,  and  that  travellers  seldom  impose  upon  others  except 
when  they  have  been  imposed  upon  themselves.  The  discredit 
which  they  have  fallen  into  is  more  owing  to  their  errors  and 
mistakes  than  to  wilful  imposition  and  falsehood.  It  is  therefore 
rendering  them  and  the  world  an  essential  service  to  point  out 
the  means  of  avoiding  those  deceptions,  which  if  not  sufficiently 
guarded  against,  will  at  last  destroy  all  belief  in  the  accounts 
given  by  travellers  of  distant  nations  and  of  manners  and  cus 
toms  different  from  our  own. 

The  first  and  most  important  thing  for  a  traveller  is  a  compe 
tent  knowledge  of  the  language  of  the  people  among  whom  he 
is.  Without  this  knowledge  it  is  impossible  that  he  can  acquire 
a  correct  notion  of  their  manners  and  customs  and  of  the  opin 
ions  which  prevail  among  them.  There  is  little  faith  to  be  placed 
in  those  numerous  vocabularies  of  the  languages  of  distant  nations 
which  are  to  be  found  in  almost  every  book  of  voyages  or  travels ; 
they  are  generally  full  of  the  most  ridiculous  mistakes  ;  at  least 
(for  I  must  speak  only  of  what  I  know)  those  which  relate  to  the 
Indian  languages  of  North  America.  I  was  some  years  ago 
shewn  a  vocabulary l  of  the  idiom  of  the  Indians  who  inhabited 

1  Vocabularium  Barbaro-Virgineorum,  bound  with  an  Indian  translation  from  the 
Swedish  of  Luther's  Catechism.  Stockholm,  1696,  duod. 

318 


ADVICE    TO    TRAVELLERS.  319 

the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  while  Pennsylvania  was  under  the 
dominion  of  the  Swedes,  which  idiom  was  no  other  than  the 
pure  Unami  dialect  of  the  Lenape,  and  I  could  hardly  refrain 
from  laughing  at  the  numerous  errors  that  I  observed  in  it ;  for 
instance,  the  Indian  word  given  for  hand  in  fact  means  finger. 
This  is  enough  to  shew  how  carelessly  those  vocabularies  are 
made,  and  how  little  their  authors  are  acquainted  with  the  lan 
guages  that  they  pretend  to  teach. 

The  cause  of  these  mistakes  may  be  easily  accounted  for. 
When  pointing  to  a  particular  object  you  ask  an  Indian  how  it 
is  called,  he  never  will  give  you  the  name  of  the  genus,  but  al 
ways  that  of  the  species.  Thus,  if  you  point  to  a  tree,  and  ask  for 
its  name,  the  answer  will  be  oak,  beech,  chestnut,  maple,  &c.,  as 
the  case  may  be.  Thus  the  Swedish  author  of  the  vocabulary 
that  I  have  mentioned,  probably  happened  to  point  to  a  finger, 
when  he  asked  what  was  the  Indian  word  for  hand,  and  on  re 
ceiving  the  answer,  without  further  enquiry  enriched  his  work 
with  this  notable  specimen  of  Indian  learning. 

When  I  first  went  to  reside  among  the  Indians,  I  took  'great 
care  to  learn  by  heart  the  words  Koecn  & delloundamcn  yun  ? 
which  means  What  do  you  call  this?  Whenever  I  found  the 
Indians  disposed  to  attend  to  my  enquiries,  I  would  point  to 
particular  objects  and  repeat  my  formulary,  and  the  answers 
that  they  gave  I  immediately  wrote  down  in  a  book  which  I 
kept  for  the  purpose ;  at  last,  when  I  had  written  about  half  a 
dozen  sheets,  I  found  that  I  had  more  than  a  dozen  names  for 
"  tree"  as  many  for  "fish"  and  so  on  with  other  things,  and  yet 
I  had  not  a  single  generic  name.  What  was  still  worse,  when  I 
pointed  to  something,  repeating  the  name  or  one  of  the  names 
by  which  I  had  been  taught  to  call  it,  I  was  sure  to  excite  a 
laugh;  and  when,  in  order  to  be  set  right,  I  put  the  question 
Kcecu,  &c.,  I  would  receive  for  answer  a  new  word  or  name 
which  I  had  never  heard  before.  This  began  to  make  me  be 
lieve  that  everything  was  not  as  it  should  be,  and  that  I  was 
not  in  the  right  way  to  learn  the  Indian  language. 

It  was  not  only  in  substantives  or  the  proper  names  of  things 
that  I  found  myself  almost  always  mistaken.  Those  who  are 
not  acquainted  with  the  copiousness  of  the  Indian  languages, 


32O  ADVICE    TO    TRAVELLERS. 

can  hardly  form  an  idea  of  the  various  shades  and  combinations 
of  ideas  that  they  can  express.  For  instance,  the  infinitive  Mit- 
zin  signifies  to  eat,  and  so  does  Mohoan.  Now  although  the  first 
of  these  words  is  sufficiently  expressive  of  the  act  of  eating 
something,  be  it  what  it  may,  yet  the  Indians  are  very  attentive 
to  expressing  in  one  word  what  and  how  they  have  eaten,  that 
is  to  say  whether  they  have  been  eating  something  which  needed 
no  chewing,  as  pottage,  mush  or  the  like,  or  something  that  re 
quired  the  use  of  the  teeth.  In  the  latter  case  the  proper  word 
is  mo/wan,  and  in  the  former  gwitammen.  If  an  Indian  is  asked 
k'dapi  mitzi?  have  you  eaten?  he  will  answer  ridapi  gimtam- 
men,  or  n'dapi  mohoa,  according  as  what  he  has  eaten  did  or  did 
not  require  the  aid  of  chewing.  If  he  has  eaten  of  both  kinds 
of  provisions  at  his  meal,  he  will  then  use  the  generic  word,  and 
say,  n'dapi  mitzi,  which  means  generally,  /  have  eaten. 

These  niceties  of  course  escaped  me,  and  what  was  worse,  few 
of  the  words  I  had  taken  down  were  correctly  written.  Essen 
tial  letters  or  syllables,  which  in  the  rapidity  of  pronunciation 
had  escaped  my  ear,  were  almost  everywhere  omitted.  When 
I  tried  to  make  use  of  the  words  which  I  had  so  carefully  col 
lected,  I  found  I  was  not  understood,  and  I  was  at  a  loss  to  dis 
cover  the  cause  to  which  I  might  attribute  my  want  of  success 
in  the  earnest  endeavours  that  I  was  making  to  acquire  the  In 
dian  tongue. 

At  last  there  came  an  Indian,  who  was  conversant  with  the 
English  and  German,  and  was  much  my  friend.  I  hastened  to 
lay  before  him  my  learned  collection  of  Indian  words,  and  was 
very  much  astonished  when  he  advised  me  immediately  to  burn 
the  whole,  and  write  no  more.  "  The  first  thing,"  said  he,  "  that 
you  are  to  do  to  learn  our  language  is  to  get  an  Indian  ear;  when 
that  is  obtained,  no  sound,  no  syllable  will  ever  escape  your 
hearing  it,  and  you  will  at  the  same  time  learn  the  true  pronun 
ciation  and  how  to  accent  your  words  properly;  the  rest  will 
come  of  itself."  I  found  he  was  right.  By  listening  to  the  na 
tives,  and  repeating  the  words  to  myself  as  they  spoke  them,  it 
was  not  many  months  before  I  ventured  to  converse  with  them, 
and  finally  understood  every  word  they  said.  The  Indians  are 
very  proud  of  a  white  man's  endeavouring  to  learn  their  Ian- 


ADVICE    TO    TRAVELLERS.  321 

guage ;  they  help  him  in  everything  that  they  can,  and   it  is 
not  their  fault  if  he  does  not  succeed. 

The  language,  then,  is  the  first  thing  that  a  traveller  ought  to 
endeavour  to  acquire,  at  least,  so  as  to  be  able  to  make  himself 
understood  and  to  understand  others.  Without  this  indispen 
sable  requisite  he  may  write  about  the  soil,  earth  and  stones, 
describe  trees  and  plants  that  grow  on  the  surface  of  the  land, 
the  birds  that  fly  in  the  air  and  the  fishes  that  swim  in  the  waters, 
but  he  should  by  no  means  attempt  to  speak  of  the  disposition 
and  characters  of  the  human  beings  who  inhabit  the  country,  and 
even  of  their  customs  and  manners,  which  it  is  impossible  for  him 
to  be  sufficiently  acquainted  with.  And  indeed,  even  with  the 
advantage  of  the  language,  this  knowledge  is  not  to  be  acquired 
in  a  short  time,  so  different  is  the  impression  which  new  objects 
make  upon  us  at  first  sight,  and  that  which  they  produce  on  a 
nearer  view.  I  could  speak  the  Delaware  language  very  fluently, 
but  I  was  yet  far  from  being  well  acquainted  with  the  character 
and  manners  of  the  Lenape. 

The  Indians  are  very  ready  to  answer  the  enquiries  that  are 
made  respecting  the  usages  of  their  country.  But  they  are  very 
much  disgusted  with  the  manner  which  they  say  some  white 
people  have  of  asking  them  questions  on  questions,  without 
allowing  them  time  to  give  a  proper  answer  to  any  one  of  them. 
They,  on  the  contrary,  never  ask  a  second  question  until  they 
have  received  a  full  answer  to  the  first.  They  say  of  those  who 
do  otherwise,  that  they  seem  as  if  they  wished  to  know  a  thing 
yet  cared  not  whether  they  knew  it  correctly  or  properly.  There 
are  some  men  who  before  the  Indians  have  well  understood  the 
question  put  to  them,  begin  to  write  down  their  answers  ;  of 
these  they  have  no  good  opinion,  thinking  that  they  are  writing 
something  unfavourable  of  them. 

There  are  men  who  will  relate  incredible  stories  of  the  Indians, 
and  think  themselves  sufficiently  warranted  because  they  have 
Indian  authority  for  it.  But  these  men  ought  to  know  that  all 
an  Indian  says  is  not  to  be  relied  upon  as  truth.  I  do  not  mean 
to  say  that  they  are  addicted  to  telling  falsehoods,  for  nothing 
is  farther  from  their  character ;  but  they  are  fond  of  the  marvel 
lous,  and  when  they  find  a  white  man  inclined  to  listen  to  their 

21 


322  ADVICE    TO    TRAVELLERS. 

tales  of  wonder,  or  credulous  enough  to  believe  their  superstitious 
notions,  there  are  always  some  among  them  ready  to  entertain 
him  with  tales  of  that  description,  as  it  gives  them  an  oppor 
tunity  of  diverting  themselves  in  their  leisure  hours,  by  relating 
such  fabulous  stories,  while  they  laugh  at  the  same  time  at  their 
being  able  to  deceive  a  people  who  think  themselves  so  superior 
to  them  in  wisdom  and  knowledge.  They  are  fond  of  trying 
white  men  who  come  among  them,  in  order  to  see  whether  they 
can  act  upon  them  in  this  way  with  success.  Travellers  who 
cannot  speak  their  language,  and  are  not  acquainted  with  their 
character,  manners  and  usages,  should  be  more  particularly  care 
ful  not  to  ask  them  questions  that  touch  in  any  manner  upon 
their  superstitious  notions,  or,  as  they  are  often  considered  even 
by  themselves  "fabulous  amusements."  Nor  should  a  stranger 
ever  display  an  anxiety  to  witness  scenes  of  this  kind,  but  rather 
appear  indifferent  about  them.  In  this  manner  he  cannot  be 
misled  by  interested  persons  or  those  who  have  formed  a  mali 
cious  design  to  deceive  him.  Whenever  such  a  disposition 
appears  (and  it  is  not  difficult  to  be  discovered),  questions  of 
this  kind  should  be  reserved  for  another  time,  and  asked  in  a 
proper  manner  before  other  persons,  or  of  those  who  would  be 
candid  and  perhaps  let  the  enquirer  into  the  secret. 

I  have  been  led  to  consider  Carver,  who  otherwise  is  deserving 
of  credit  for  the  greatest  part  of  what  he  has  written  on  the  char 
acter  of  the  Indians,  to  have  been  imposed  upon  in  the  story 
which  he  relates  of  having  learned  by  means  of  a  conjurer  (the 
chief  priest  of  the  Killistenoes,  as  he  calls  him)  who  pretended 
to  have  had  a  conversation  with  the  great  Spirit,  the  precise  time 
when  a  canoe  should  come,  and  certain  traders  who  had  been 
long  expected  should  arrive.1  Had  Carver  resided  a  longer  time 
among  the  Indians,  so  as  to  have  acquired  a  more  intimate  ac 
quaintance  with  their  customs,2  he  would  have  known  that  they 
have  one  in  particular  (which  I  understand  is  universal  among 
all  the  tribes),  which  would  have  easily  explained  to  him  what 
he  thought  so  mysterious.  Whenever  they  go  out  on  a  journey, 

1  Carver's  Travels,  Introduction,  p.  72.     Boston  Edit.,  1797. 

2  Carver  was  only  14  months  in  the  Indian  country,  during  which  time  he  says  he 
travelled  near  4000  miles  and  visited  twelve  different  nations  of  Indians. 


ADVICE    TO    TRAVELLERS.  323 

whether  far  or  near,  and  even  sometimes  when  they  go  out  on 
hunting  parties,  they  always  fix  a  day,  on  which  they  either  will 
return,  or  their  friends  at  home  shall  hear  from  them.  They  are 
so  particular  and  punctual  in  "making  their  word  true,"  as  they 
call  it,  that  when  they  find  that  at  the  rate  they  are  travelling, 
they  would  probably  be  at  home  a  day  or  so  sooner  than  the 
time  appointed,  they  will  rather  lay  by  for  that  time  than  that 
their  word  should  not  be  precisely  made  good.  I  have  known 
instances  when  they  might  have  arrived  in  very  good  time  the 
day  preceding  that  which  they  had  appointed,  but  they  rather 
chose  to  encamp  for  the  night,  though  but  a  few  miles  distant 
from  their  home.  They  urge  a  variety  of  reasons  for  this  con 
duct.  In  the  first  place,  they  are  anxious  not  to  occasion  disap 
pointment  in  any  case  when  they  can  avoid  it.  They  consider 
punctuality  as  an  essential  virtue,  because,  they  say,  much  often 
depends  upon  it,  particularly  when  they  are  engaged  in  wars. 
Besides,  when  the  day  of  their  return  is  certainly  known,  every 
thing  is  prepared  for  their  reception,  and  the  family  are  ready 
with  the  best  that  they  can  provide  to  set  before  them  on  their 
arrival.  If,  however,  unforeseen  circumstances  should  prevent 
them  from  coming  all  on  the  same  day,  one,  at  least,  or  more 
of  them,  will  be  sure  to  arrive,  from  whom  those  at  home  will 
learn  all  that  they  wish  to  know. 

On  all  important  occasions,  in  which  a  tribe  or  body  of  Indians 
are  concerned  or  interested,  whether  they  are  looking  out  for  the 
return  of  an  embassy  sent  to  a  distant  nation,  for  messengers 
with  an  answer  on  some  matter  of  consequence,  for  runners 
despatched  by  their  spies  who  are  watching  an  enemy's  motions, 
or  for  traders  who  at  stated  periods  every  year  are  sure  to  meet 
them  at  certain  places,  they  always  take  proper  and  efficacious 
measures  to  prevent  being  surprised. 

The  case  which  appears  to  have  excited  so  much  astonishment 
in  Captain  Carver,  I  believe  to  have  been  simply  this.  The  In 
dians  1  had  at  the  season  that  he  speaks  of  failed  to  arrive  at  the 
trading  place  at  the  time  appointed.  The  Indians  who  had  as 
sembled  there  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  them  could  not  be 

1  For  " Indians  "  read  "  traders" 


324  ADVICE    TO    TRAVELLERS. 

ignorant  of  the  cause  of  their  delay,  as  they  had,  no  doubt, 
learned  it  by  the  return  of  some  of  their  runners  sent  out  for  that 
purpose,  who,  as  is  their  custom,  probably  informed  them  that 
another  set  of  runners  would  be  in  the  next  day  with  further  ad 
vices.  The  priest  must  have  known  all  this,  and  the  precise  spot 
where  those  fresh  runners  were  to  encamp  the  night  preceding 
their  arrival,  which  is  always  well  known  and  understood  by 
means  of  the  regular  chain  of  communication  that  is  kept  up. 
These  runners  say  to  each  other,  pointing  to  the  heavens : 
"  When  the  sun  stands  there,  I  will  be  here  or  at  such  a  particular 
spot,"  which  they  clearly  designate.  The  information  thus  given 
is  sure  to  reach  in  time  the  chiefs  of  the  nation. 

The  manner  in  which  this  priest  spoke  to  Captain  Carver  of 
his  pretended  intercourse  with  the  great  Spirit,  clearly  shews 
the  deception  that  he  was  practising  upon  him.  "  The  great 
Spirit,"  said  he,  "  has  not  indeed  told  me  when  the  persons  we 
expect  will  be  here,  but  to-morrow,  soon  after  the  sun  has  reached 
his  .highest  point  in  the  heavens,  a  canoe  will  arrive,  and  the 
people  in  that  will  inform  us  when  the  traders  will  come."  The 
question,  then,  which  he  had  put  to  the  great  Spirit,  "  when  the 
traders  would  come?  "  was  not  answered,  and  there  was  no  need 
of  asking  the  Mannitto  when  the  canoes  should  come,  for  that 
must  have  been  known  already,  and  that  the  people  in  it  would 
tell  them  where  the  traders  were,  and  when  they  might  be  ex 
pected  to  arrive. 

As  in  or  about  the  year  1774,  I  was  travelling  with  some 
Christian  Indians,  two  Indians  of  the  same  nation,  but  strangers 
to  us,  fell  in  with  us  just  as  we  were  going  to  encamp,  and  joined  us 
for  the  night.  One  of  them  was  an  aged  grave-looking  man,  whom 
I  was  pleased  to  see  in  our  company,  and  I  flattered  myself  with 
obtaining  some  information  from  him,  as,  according  to  the  Indian 
custom,  age  always  takes  the  lead  in  conversation.  I  soon, 
however,  perceived,  to  my  great  mortification,  that  he  dwelt  on 
subjects  which  I  had  neither  a  taste  for  nor  an  ear  to  hear;  for 
his  topic  was  the  supernatural  performances  of  Indians  through 
the  agency  of  an  unseen  Mannitto.  I  did  not  pay  any  attention 
to  what  he  said,  nor  did  any  of  our  Christian  Indians  shew  marks 
of  admiration  or  astonishment  at  the  stories  he  was  telling,  but 


ADVICE    TO    TRAVELLERS.  325 

sat  in  silence  smoking  their  pipes.  The  speaker  having,  after 
an  hour's  time,  finished  his  relations,  the  oldest  Indian  in  my 
company  addressed  himself  to  me  and  said :  "  Now  you  have 
heard  what  some  Indians  can  perform.  Have  you  ever  heard 
the  like  before,  and  do  you  believe  all  you  have  heard  ?  "  "  There 
are,"  I  answered,  "  many  things  that  I  have  heard  of  the  Indians, 
and  which  I  believe  to  be  true,  and  such  things  I  like  to  hear ; 
but  there  are  also  things  which  they  relate  which  I  do  not  be 
lieve,  and  therefore  do  not  wish  to  know  them.  While  our 
friend  here  was  just  now  telling  us  stones  of  this  kind,  which  I 
cannot  believe,  I  was  wishing  all  the  time  that  he  might  soon 
have  finished  and  tell  us  something  better."  The  Indian,  taking 
the  hint  in  good  part,  asked  me  then  what  things  I  should  like 
to  hear?  On  which  I  made  this  reply  :  "As  you  are  a  man  al 
ready  in  years,  and  much  older  than  myself,  you  must  have  seen 
many  things  that  I  have  not  seen,  and  heard  much  that  I  have 
not  heard.  Now  I  should  like  to  hear  the  history  of  your  life  ; 
where  you  was  born,  at  what  age  you  shot  your  first  deer,  what 
things  you  heard  of  your  father  and  your  grandfather  relative  to 
old  times  ;  where  they  supposed  the  Indians  to  have  come  from, 
and  what  traditions  they  had  respecting  them.  I  should  like 
also  to  know  how  many  children  you  have  had ;  how  far  you 
have  travelled  in  your  lifetime,  and  what  you  have  seen  and 
heard  in  your  travels.  See ! "  added  I,  "  these  are  the  things 
that  I  should  like  to  hear  of  the  Indians  ;  anything  of  the  kind 
from  you  will  give  me  pleasure."  The  Indian  then,  highly 
pleased  with  my  candour,  readily  complied,  and  having  related 
everything  remarkable  that  had  come  within  his  observation  and 
knowledge,  I  thanked  him,  saying  that  I  should  never  forget 
him  nor  what  he  had  now  related  to  me,  but  that  I  would  try  to 
forget  what  he  had  related  in  the  beginning.  The  Indians  who 
were  with  me,  following  the  thread  of  the  conversation,  continued 
to  entertain  us  with  rational  stories,  and  the  evening  was  spent 
very  agreeably.  In  the  morning,  when  we  parted,  the  strange 
Indian  whom  I  had  thus  rebuked,  shook  me  cordially  by  the 
hand,  saying :  "  Friend  !  you  shall  never  be  forgotten  by  me. 
Indeed  I  call  you  n\y  friend" 

I  would   take  the  liberty  to  recommend  to  those  who  may 


326  ADVICE    TO    TRAVELLERS. 

hereafter  travel  among  the  Indians,  in  any  part  of  America,  to 
be  particular  in  their  enquiries  respecting  the  connexion  of  the 
different  nations  or  tribes  with  each  other,  especially  when  the 
analogy  of  their  respective  languages  leads  to  infer  such  relation 
ship,  as  the  Indians  call  it.  I  beg  leave  to  suggest  a  few  ques 
tions,  which,  I  think,  ought  always  to  be  asked.  They  may  lead 
to  much  useful  information  respecting  the  various  migrations 
and  the  original  places  of  residence  of  the  Indian  nations,  and 
perhaps  produce  more  important  discoveries. 

1.  What  is  the  name  of  your  tribe?     Is  it  its  original  name; 
if  not,  how  was  it  formerly  called  ? 

2.  Have  you  a  tradition  of  your  lineal  descent  as  a  nation  or 
tribe? 

3.  To  what  tribes  are  you  related  by  blood,  and  where   do 
they  reside  ? 

4.  What  is  your  character  or  rank  in  the  national  family  ? 

5.  Which  among  the  tribes  connected  with  you  is  that  which 
you  call  grandfather  ? 

6.  Where  is  the  great  council  fire  of  all  the  nations  or  tribes 
connected  with  yours  ? 

7.  How  do  you  address  the  chiefs  and  council  of  such  a  nation 
or  tribe  ? 

8.  What  is  the  badge  of  your  tribe? 

From  these  and  other  similar  questions,  much  valuable  infor 
mation  will  probably  result.  The  nation  whom  another  tribe 
calls  grandfather,  is  certainly  the  head  of  the  family  to  which 
they  both  belong.  At  his  door  burns  the  "  great  national  council 
fire,"  or,  in  other  words,  at  the  place  where  he  resides  with  his 
counsellors,  as  the  great  or  supreme  chief  of  the  national  family, 
the  heads  of  the  tribes  in  the  connexion  occasionally  assemble 
to  deliberate  on  their  common  interests ;  any  tribe  may  have 
a  council  fire  of  its  own,  but  cannot  dictate  to  the  other  tribes, 
nor  compel  any  of  them  to  take  up  the  hatchet  against  an 
enemy ;  neither  can  they  conclude  a  peace  for  the  whole  ;  this 
power  entirely  rests  with  the  great  national  chief,  who  presides 
at  the  council  fire  of  their  grandfather. 

Indian  nations  or  tribes  connected  with  each  other  are  not 
always  connected  by  blood  or  descended  from  the  same  original 


ADVICE    TO    TRAVELLERS.  327 

stock.  Some  are  admitted  into  the  connexion  by  adoption. 
Such  are  the  Tuscaroras  among  the  Six  Nations ;  such  the 
Cherokees  among  the  Lenni  Lenape.  Thus,  in  the  year  1779, 
a  deputation  of  fourteen  men  came  from  the  Cherokee  nation  to 
the  council  fire  of  the  Delawares,  to  condole  with  their  grand 
father  on  the  loss  of  their  head  chief.1  There  are  tribes,  on  the 
other  hand,  who  have  wandered  far  from  the  habitations  of  those 
connected  with  them  by  blood  or  relationship.  It  is  certain 
that  they  can  no  longer  be  benefited  by  the  general  council  fire. 
They,  therefore,  become  a  people  by  themselves,  and  pass  with 
us  for  a  separate  nation,  if  they  only  have  a  name  ;  nevertheless, 
(if  I  am  rightly  informed)  they  well  know  to  what  stock  or 
nation  they  originally  belonged,  and  if  questioned  on  that  sub 
ject,  will  give  correct  answers.  It  is  therefore  very  important 
to  make  these  enquiries  of  any  tribe  or  nation  that  a  traveller 
may  find  himself  among.  The  analogy  of  languages  is  the  best 
and  most  unequivocal  sign  of  connexion  between  Indian  tribes  ; 
yet  the  absence  of  that  indication  should  not  always  be  relied 
upon. 

It  may  not  be  improper  also  to  mention  in  this  place  that  the 
purity  or  correctness  with  which  a  language  is  spoken,  will 
greatly  help  to  discover  who  is  the  head  of  the  national  family. 
For  no  where  is  the  language  so  much  cultivated  as  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  great  national  council  fire,  where  the  orators  have 
the  best  opportunity  of  displaying  their  talents.  Thus  the  purest 
and  most  elegant  dialect  of  the  Lenape  language,  is  that  of  the 
Unami  or  Turtle  tribe. 

1  [They  were  sent  to  Goschschoking  (Coshocton),  the  then  capital  of  the  Dela 
ware  nation,  to  condole  with  that  people  on  the  death  of  White  Eyes.] 


CHAPTER   XLIV. 

THE  INDIANS  AND  THE  WHITES  COMPARED. 

F  lions  had  painters  !  This  proverbial  saying  applies 
with  equal  force  to  the  American  Indians.  They 
have  no  historians  among  them,  no  books,  no  news 
papers,  no  convenient  means  of  making  their  griev 
ances  known  to  a  sympathising  world.  Why,  then,  should  not 
a  white  man,  a  Christian,  who  has  spent  among  them  the  great 
est  part  of  his  life,  and  was  treated  by  them  at  all  times  with 
hospitality  and  kindness,  plead  their  honest  cause,  and  defend 
them  as  they  would  defend  themselves,  if  they  had  but  the 
means  of  bringing  their  facts  and  their  arguments  before  an 
impartial  public  ? 

Those  who  have  never  taken  the  pains  to  enquire  into  the  real 
character  and  disposition  of  the  American  Indians,  naturally 
suppose,  that  a  people  who  have  no  code  of  laws  for  their  gov 
ernment,  but  where  every  man  is  at  liberty  to  do  what  he 
pleases,  where  men  never  forget  or  forgive  injuries,  and  take 
revenge  in  their  own  way,  often  in  the  most  cruel  manner,  and 
are  never  satisfied  until  they  have  been  revenged,  must  of  course 
be  barbarians  and  savages  ;  by  which  undefined  words  is  under 
stood  whatever  is  bad,  wicked,  and  disgraceful  to  human  nature. 
Imagination  is  immediately  at  work  to  paint  them  as  a  species 
of  monsters,  to  whom  cruelty  is  an  appetite ;  a  sort  of  human- 
shaped  tigers  and  panthers,  strangers  to  the  finer  feelings,  and 
who  commit  acts  of  barbarity  without  any  excitement  but  that 
of  their  depraved  inclination,  and  without  even  suspecting  that 

328 


THE    INDIANS    AND    THE    WHITES    COMPARED.          329 

there  are  such  things  in  nature  as  virtue  on  the  one  hand  and 
crime  on  the  other. 

But  nothing  is  so  false  as  this  picture  of  the  Indians.  The 
worst  that  can  be  said  of  them  is,  that  the  passion  of  revenge  is 
so  strong  in  their  minds,  that  it  carries  them  beyond  all  bounds. 
But  set  this  aside,  and  their  character  is  noble  and  great.  They 
have  no  written  laws,  but  they  have  usages  founded  on  the  most 
strict  principles  of  equity  and  justice.  Murder  with  them  is  pun 
ished  with  death.  It  is  true,  that  as  was  the  case  not  many 
centuries  ago  among  the  most  civilised  nations  of  Europe,  the 
death  of  a  man  may  be  compounded  for  with  his  surviving  rela 
tions  ;  if,  however,  they  do  not  choose  to  accept  of  the  terms 
offered,  any  one  of  them  may  become  the  executioner  of  the 
murderer. 

Thieves  are  compelled  to  restore  what  they  have  stolen,  or  to 
make  satisfactory  amends  to  the  injured  party;  in  their  default, 
their  nearest  relations  are  obliged  to  make  up  the  loss.  If  the 
thief,  after  sufficient  warning,  continues  his  bad  practices,  he  is 
disowned  by  his  nation,  and  any  one  may  put  him  to  death  the 
next  time  that  he  is  caught  in  the  act  of  stealing,  or  that  it  can 
be  clearly  proved  to  have  been  committed  by  him.  I  have  given 
two  instances  of  the  kind  in  a  former  chapter,1  and  I  recollect 
another  which  will  put  what  I  have  said  in  the  strongest  light. 
I  once  knew  an  Indian  chief,  who  had  a  son  of  a  vicious  disposi 
tion,  addicted  to  stealing,  and  who  would  take  no  advice.  His 
father,  tired  and  unable  to  satisfy  all  the  demands  which  were 
made  upon  him  for  the  restitution  of  articles  stolen  by  his  son, 
at  last  issued  his  orders  for  shooting  him  the  next  time  he 
should  be  guilty  of  a  similar  act. 

As  to  crimes  and  offences  of  an  inferior  nature  to  murder  and 
theft,  they  are  left  to  the  injured  party  to  punish  in  such  manner 
as  he  thinks  proper.  Such  are  personal  insults  and  threats, 
which  among  those  people  are  not  considered  as  slight  matters. 
If  the  will  and  intention  of  the  aggressor  appear  to  be  bad ;  if 
the  insult  offered  is  considered  as  the  forerunner  of  something 
worse  ;  or,  as  the  Indians  express  themselves,  if  the  "  murdering 

1Ch.  7,  p.  in. 


330         THE    INDIANS    AND    THE    WHITES    COMPARED. 

spirit"  is  "alive"  within  him  who  offers  or  threatens  violence 
to  another,  they  think  themselves  justified  in  preventing  the 
act  meditated  against  them  ;  in  such  a  case,  they  consider  the 
killing  the  aggressor  as  an  act  of  necessity  and  self  defence. 
Yet  it  is  very  rarely,  indeed,  that  such  punishments  are  inflicted.1 
The  Indians,  in  general,  avoid  giving  offence  as  much  as  possi 
ble.  They  firmly  believe  that  bad  thoughts  and  actions  proceed 
from  the  evil  spirit,  and  carefully  avoid  every  thing  that  is  bad. 

Every  person  who  is  well  acquainted  with  the  true  character 
of  the  Indians  will  admit  that  they  are  peaceable,  sociable,  oblig 
ing,  charitable,  and  hospitable  among  themselves,  and  that  those 
virtues  are,  as  it  were,  a  part  of  their  nature.  In  their  ordinary 
intercourse,  they  are  studious  to  oblige  each  other.  They  neither 
wrangle  nor  fight ;  they  live,  I  believe,  as  peaceably  together  as 
any  people  on  earth,  and  treat  one  another  with  the  greatest  re 
spect.  That  they  are  not  devoid  of  tender  feelings  has  been 
sufficiently  shewn  in  the  course  of  this  work.  I  do  not  mean  to 
speak  of  those  whose  manners  have  been  corrupted  by  a  long 
intercourse  with  the  worst  class  of  white  men  ;  they  are  a  degen 
erate  race,  very  different  from  the  true  genuine  Indians  whom 
I  have  attempted  to  describe. 

If  any  one  should  be  disposed  to  think  that  I  have  exaggera 
ted  in  the  picture  which  I  have  drawn  of  these  original  people,  as 
they  call  themselves,  I  appeal  to  the  numerous  impartial  writers 
who  have  given  the  same  testimony  respecting  them.  What 
says  Christopher  Columbus  himself  of  the  American  Indians  in 
his  letters  to  his  sovereign  ?  "  There  are  not,"  says  he,  "  a  better 
people  in  the  world  than  these;  more  affectionate,  affable,  or 
mild.  They  love  their  neighbours  as  themselves" 

Similar  encomiums  were  passed  on  them  by  some  of  the  first 
Englishmen  who  came  to  settle  in  this  country.  The  Reverend 
Mr.  Cushman,  in  a  sermon  preached  at  Plymouth  in  1620,  says: 
"  The  Indians  are  said  to  be  the  most  cruel  and  treacherous 
people  in  all  those  parts,  even  like  lions ;  but  to  us  they  have 
been  like  lambs,  so  kind,  so  submissive  and  trusty,  as  a  man 
may  truly  say,  many  Christians  are  not  so  kind  and  sincere." 

1  See  above,  ch.  18,  p.  172. 


THE    INDIANS    AND    THE    WHITES    COMPARED.          33! 

The  learned  Dr.  Elias  Boudinot,  of  Burlington,  in  New  Jersey 
(a  man  well  remembered  as  one  of  the  most  eminent  leaders  of 
the  American  Revolution),1  in  a  work 2  which,  whatever  opinion 
may  be  entertained  of  the  hypothesis  that  he  contends  for,  well 
deserves  to  be  read,  for  the  spirit  which  it  breathes  and  the  facts 
that  it  contains,  has  brought  together  in  one  view,  the  above 
and  many  other  authorities  of  eminent  men  in  favour  of  the 
American  Indians,  and  in  proof  that  their  character  is  such  as  I 
have  described.  I  shall  not  repeat  after  him  what  Las  Casas, 
William  Penn,  Bryan  Edwards,  the  Abbe  Clavigero,  Father 
Charlevoix  and  others,  have  said  on  the  same  subject;  those 
numerous  and  weighty  testimonies  may  be  found  in  the  work  to 
which  I  have  referred.3  But  I  cannot  refrain  from  transcribing 
the  opinion  of  the  venerable  author  himself,  to  which  his  high 
character,  his  learning,  and  independence,  affix  a  more  than 
common  degree  of  authority. 

"  It  is  a  matter  of  fact,"  says  Dr.  Boudinot,  "  proved  by  most 
historical  accounts,  that  the  Indians,  at  our  first  acquaintance 
with  them,  generally  manifested  themselves  kind,  hospitable  and 
generous  to  the  Europeans,  so  long  as  they  were  treated  with 
justice  and  humanity.  But  when  they  were,  from  a  thirst  of 
gain,  over-reached  on  many  occasions,  their  friends  and  relations 
treacherously  entrapped  and  carried  away  to  be  sold  for  slaves, 
themselves  injuriously  oppressed,  deceived  and  driven  from  their 
lawful  and  native  possessions;  what  ought  to  have  been  ex 
pected,  but  inveterate  enmity,  hereditary  animosity,  and  a  spirit 
of  perpetual  revenge?  To  whom  should  be  attributed  the  evil 
passions,  cruel  practices  and  vicious  habits  to  which  they  are 
now  changed,  but  to  those  who  first  set  them  the  example,  laid 
the  foundation  and  then  furnished  the  continual  means  for 
propagating  and  supporting  the  evil  ?  " 4 

1  Dr.  Boudinot  was  long  a  member,  and  once  President,  of  the  Continental  Con 
gress,  and  his  talents  were  very  useful  to  the  cause  which  he  had  embraced.     At  a 
very  advanced  age,  he  now  enjoys  literary  ease  in  a  dignified  retirement. 

2  A  Star  in  the  West,  or  a  humble  attempt  to  discover  the  long  lost  ten  tribes  of 
Israel,  preparatory  to  their  return  to  their  beloved  city,  Jerusalem.     Trenton  (New 
Jersey),  1816. 

3  See  page  140,  and  following. 

4  Star  in  the  West,  p.  138. 


332         THE    INDIANS    AND    THE    WHITES    COMPARED. 

Such  was  the  original  character  of  the  Indians,  stamped,  as  it 
were,  upon  them  by  nature;  but  fifty  or  sixty  years  back, 
whole  communities  of  them  bore  the  stamp  of  this  character, 
difficult  now  to  be  found  within  the  precincts  of  any  part  of  their 
territory  bordering  on  the  settlements  of  the  white  people  ! 

What !  will  it  be  asked,  can  this  be  a  true  picture  of  the  char 
acter  of  the  Indians ;  of  those  brutes,  barbarians,  savages,  men 
without  religion  or  laws,  who  commit  indiscriminate  murders, 
without  distinction  of  age  or  sex?  Have  they  not  in  number 
less  instances  desolated  our  frontiers,  and  butchered  our  people? 
Have  they  not  violated  treaties  and  deceived  the  confidence  that 
we  placed  in  them  ?  No,  no ;  they  are  beasts  of  prey  in  the 
human  form ;  they  are  men  with  whom  no  faith  is  to  be  kept, 
and  who  ought  to  be  cut  off  from  the  face  of  the  earth ! 

Stop,  my  friends!  hard  names  and  broad  assertions  are  neither 
reasons  nor  positive  facts.  I  am  not  prepared  to  enter  into  a 
discussion  with  you  on  the  comparative  merits  or  demerits  of 
the  Indians  and  whites ;  for  I  am  unskilled  in  argument,  and 
profess  only  to  be  a  plain  matter  of  fact  man.  To  facts  there 
fore  I  will  appeal.  I  admit  that  the  Indians  have  sometimes 
revenged,  cruelly  revenged,  the  accumulated  wrongs  which  they 
have  suffered  from  unprincipled  white  men ;  the  love  of  revenge 
is  a  strong  passion  which  their  imperfect  religious  notions  have 
not  taught  them  to  subdue.  But  how  often  have  they  been  the 
aggressors  in  the  unequal  contests  which  they  have  had  to  sus 
tain  with  the  invaders  of  their  country  ?  In  how  many  various 
shapes  have  they  not  been  excited  and  their  passions  roused  to 
the  utmost  fury  by  acts  of  cruelty  and  injustice  on  the  part  of 
the  whites,  who  have  made  afterwards  the  country  ring  with 
their  complaints  against  the  lawless  savages,  who  had  not  the 
means  of  being  heard  in  their  defence?  I  shall  not  pursue  these 
questions  any  farther,  but  let  the  facts  that  I  am  going  to  relate 
speak  for  themselves. 

In  the  summer  of  the  year  1763,  some  friendly  Indians  from  a 
distant  place,  came  to  Bethlehem  to  dispose  of  their  peltry  for 
manufactured  goods  and  necessary  implements  of  husbandry. 
Returning  home  well  satisfied,  they  put  up  the  first  night  at  a 


THE    INDIANS    AND    THE    WHITES    COMPARED.         333 

tavern,  eight  miles  distant  from  this  place.1  The  landlord  not 
being  at  home,  his  wife  took  the  liberty  of  encouraging  the 
people  who  frequented  her  house  for  the  sake  of  drinking  to 
abuse  those  Indians,  adding,  "  That  she  would  freely  give  a 
gallon  of  rum  to  any  one  of  them  that  should  kill  one  of  these 

black  d Is."     Other  white  people  from  the  neighbourhood 

came  in  during  the  night,  who  also  drank  freely,  made  a  great 
deal  of  noise,  and  increased  the  fears  of  those  poor  Indians,  who, 
for  the  greatest  part,  understanding  English,  could  not  but  sus 
pect  that  something  bad  was  intended  against  their  persons. 
They  were  not,  however,  otherwise  disturbed :  but  in  the  morn 
ing,  when,  after  a  restless  night,  they  were  preparing  to  set  off, 
they  found  themselves  robbed  of  some  of  the  most  valuable 
articles  they  had  purchased,  and  on  mentioning  this  to  a  man 
who  appeared  to  be  the  bar-keeper,  they  were  ordered  to  leave 
the  house.  Not  being  willing  to  lose  so  much  property,  they 
retired  to  some  distance  into  the  woods,  where,  some  of  them 
remaining  with  what  was  left  them,  the  others  returned  to 
Bethlehem  and  lodged  their  complaint  with  a  justice  of  the 
peace.  The  magistrate  gave  them  a  letter  to  the  landlord,  press 
ing  him  without  delay  to  restore  to  the  Indians  the  goods  that 
had  been  taken  from  them.  But  behold !  when  they  delivered 
that  letter  to  the  people  at  the  inn,  they  were  told  in  answer  : 
"  that  if  they  set  any  value  on  their  lives,  they  must  make  off 
with  themselves  immediately."  They  well  understood  that  they 
had  no  other  alternative,  and  prudently  departed  without  having 
received  back  any  of  their  goods.2  Arrived  at  Nescopeck 3  on 
the  Susquehannah,  they  fell  in  with  some  other  Delawares,  who 
had  been  treated  much  in  the  same  manner,  one  of  them  having 
had  his  rifle  stolen  from  him.  Here  the  two  parties  agreed  to 

1  This  relation  is  authentic.     I  have  received  it  from  the  mouth  of  the  chief  of  the 
injured  party,  and  his  statement  was  confirmed  by  communications  made  at  the  time 
by  two  respectable  magistrates  of  the  county. 

2  [This  outrage  was  committed  at  the  public  house  of  John  Stenton,  which  stood 
on  the  road  leading  from  Bethlehem  to  Fort  Allen,  a  short  mile  north  of  the  present 
Howertown,  Allen  township,  Northampton  County.     Stenton  belonged  to  the  Scotch- 
Irish,  who  settled  in  that  region  as  early  as  1728.] 

3  [Nescopeck  was  an  Indian  settlement  on  the  highway  of  Indian  travel  between 
Fort  Allen  and  the  Wyoming  Valley.] 


334         THE    INDIANS    AND    THE    WHITES    COMPARED. 

take  revenge  in  their  own  way,  for  those  insults  and  robberies 
for  which  they  could  obtain  no  redress  ;  and  that  they  deter 
mined  to  do  as  soon  as  war  should  be  again  declared  by  their 
nation  against  the  English. 

Scarcely  had  these  Indians  retired,  when  in  another  place, 
about  fourteen  miles  distant  from  the  former,  one  man,  two 
women  and  a  child,  all  quiet  Indians,  were  murdered  in  a  most 
wicked  and  barbarous  manner,  by  drunken  militia  officers  and 
their  men,  for  the  purpose  of  getting  their  horse  and  the  goods 
they  had  just  purchased.1  One  of  the  women,  falling  on  her 
knees,  begged  in  vain  for  the  life  of  herself  and  her  child,  while 
the  other  woman,  seeing  what  was  doing,  made  her  escape  to 
the  barn,  where  she  endeavoured  to  hide  herself  on  the  top  of 
the  grain.  She  however  was  discovered,  and  inhumanly  thrown 
down  on  the  threshing  floor  with  such  force  that  her  brains  flew 
out.2 

Here,  then,  were  insults,  robberies  and  murders,  all  committed 
within  the  short  space  of  three  months,  unatoned  for  and  unre- 
venged.  There  was  no  prospect  of  obtaining  redress  ;  the  sur 
vivors  were  therefore  obliged  to  seek  some  other  means  to  obtain 
revenge.  They  did  so  ;  the  Indians,  already  exasperated  against 
the  English  in  consequence  of  repeated  outrages,  and  considering 
the  nation  as  responsible  for  the  injuries  which  it  did  neither 
prevent  nor  punish,  and  for  which  it  did  not  even  offer  to  make 
any  kind  of  reparation,  at  last  declared  war,  and  then  the  injured 
parties  were  at  liberty  to  redress  themselves  for  the  wrongs  they 
had  suffered.  They  immediately  started  against  the  objects  of 
their  hatred,  and  finding  their  way,  unseen  and  undiscovered,  to 
the  inn  which  had  been  the  scene  of  the  first  outrage,  they  at 
tacked  it  at  daybreak,  fired  into  it  on  the  people  within,  who  were 
lying  in  their  beds.  Strange  to  relate!  the  murderers  of  the  man, 
two  women,  and  child,  were  among  them.  They  were  mortally 
wounded,  and  died  of  their  wounds  shortly  afterwards.  The 
Indians,  after  leaving  this  house,  murdered  by  accident  an  inno- 

1  Justice  Geiger's  letter  to  Justice  Horsefield  proves  this  fact. 

2  [These  unprovoked  barbarities  were  perpetrated  by  a  squad  of  soldiers  who,  in 
command  of  Captain  Jacob  Wetterholt,  of  the  Provincial  service,  were  in  quarters 
nt  the  Lehigh  Water  Gap,  Carbon  County,  Pa  ] 


THE    INDIANS    AND    THE    WHITES    COMPARED.          335 

cent  family,  having  mistaken  the  house  that  they  meant  to  attack, 
after  which  they  returned  to  their  homes.1 

Now  a  violent  hue  and  cry  was  raised  against  the  Indians  — 
no  language  was  too  bad,  no  crimes  too  black  to  brand  them 
with.  No  faith  was  to  be  placed  in  those  savages ;  treaties  with 
them  were  of  no  effect ;  they  ought  to  be  cut  off  from  the  face 
of  the  earth  !  Such  was  the  language  at  that  time  in  everybody's 
mouth  ;  the  newspapers  were  filled  with  accounts  of  the  cruelties 
of  the  Indians,  a  variety  of  false  reports  were  circulated  in  order 
to  rouse  the  people  against  them,  while  they,  the  really  injured 
party,  having  no  printing  presses  among  them,  could  not  make 
known  the  story  of  their  grievances. 

"  No  faith  can  be  placed  in  what  the  Indians  promise  at  trea 
ties  ;  for  scarcely  is  a  treaty  concluded  than  they  are  again  mur 
dering  us."  Such  is  our  complaint  against  these  unfortunate 
people ;  but  they  will  tell  you  that  it  is  the  white  men  in  whom 
no  faith  is  to  placed.  They  will  tell  you,  that  there  is  not  a 
single  instance  in  which  the  whites  have  not  violated  the  engage 
ments  that  they  had  made  at  treaties.  They  say  that  when  they 
had  ceded  lands  to  the  white  people,  and  boundary  lines  had 
been  established  —  "  firmly  established  !  "  beyond  which  no 
whites  were  to  settle ;  scarcely  was  the  treaty  signed,  when 
white  intruders  again  were  settling  and  hunting  on  their  lands! 
It  is  true  that  when  they  preferred  their  complaints  to  the  gov 
ernment,  the  government  gave  them  many  fair  promises,  and 
assured  them  that  men  would  be  sent  to  remove  the  intruders 
by  force  from  the  usurped  lands.  The  men,  indeed,  came,  but 
with  chain  and  compass  in  their  hands,  taking  surveys  of  the 

1  [In  this  paragraph,  Mr.  Heckewelder  briefly  alludes  to  the  last  foray  made  by 
Indians  into  old  Northampton  County,  south  of  the  Blue  Mountain.  It  occurred  on 
the  8th  of  October,  1763.  An  account  of  the  affair  at  Stenton's,  on  the  morning  of 
that  day,  in  which  Stenton  was  shot  dead,  and  Captain  Jacob  Wetterholt  and  several 
of  his  men  seriously  or  mortally  wounded,  was  published  in  Franklin's  Pennsylvania 
Gazette,  of  October  1 8th,  1763.  Leaving  Stenton's,  after  the  loss  of  one  of  their 
number,  the  Indians  crossed  the  Lehigh,  and  on  their  way  to  a  store  and  tavern  on 
the  Copley  creek,  (where  they  also  had  been  wronged  by  the  whites,)  they  murdered 
several  families  residing  within  the  limits  of  the  present  Whitehall  township,  Lehigh 
County.  Laden  with  plunder,  they  then  struck  for  the  wilderness  north  of  the  Blue 
Mountain.  Upwards  of  twenty  settlers  were  killed  or  captured  on  that  memorable 
day,  and  the  buildings  on  several  farms  were  laid  in  ashes.] 


336         THE    INDIANS    AND    THE    WHITES    COMPARED. 

tracts  of  good  land,  which  the  intruders,  from  their  knowledge 
of  the  country,  had  pointed  out  to  them  ! 

What  was  then  to  be  done,  when  those  intruders  would  not 
go  off  from  the  land,  but,  on  the  contrary,  increased  in  numbers? 
"  Oh  !  "  said  those  people,  (and  I  have  myself  frequently  heard 
this  language  in  the  Western  country,)  "  a  new  treaty  will  soon 
give  us  all  this  land;  nothing  is  now  wanting  but  a  pretence  to 
pick  a  quarrel  with  them  ! "  Well,  but  in  what  manner  is  this 
quarrel  to  be  brought  about  ?  A  David  Owen,  a  Walker,  and 
many  others,  might,  if  they  were  alive,  easily  answer  this  ques 
tion.  A  precedent,  however,  may  be  found,  on  perusing  Mr. 
Jefferson's  Appendix  to  his  Notes  on  Virginia.  On  all  occa 
sions,  when  the  object  is  to  murder  Indians,  strong  liquor  is 
the  main  article  required ;  for  when  you  have  them  dead  drunk, 
you  may  do  to  them  as  you  please,  without  running  the  risk  of 
losing  your  life.  And  should  you  find  that  the  laws  of  your 
country  may  reach  you  where  you  are,  you  have  only  to  escape 
or  conceal  yourself  for  a  while,  until  the  storm  has  blown  over! 
I  well  recollect  the  time  when  thieves  and  murderers  of  Indians 
fled  from  impending  punishment  across  the  Susquehannah,  where 
they  considered  themselves  safe ;  on  which  account  this  river 
had  the  name  given  to  it  of  "the  rogue's  river"  I  have  heard 
other  rivers  called  by  similar  names. 

In  the  year  1742,  the  Reverend  Mr.  Whitefield  offered  the 
Nazareth  Manor  (as  it  was  then  called)  for  sale  to  the  United 
Brethren.1  He  had  already  begun  to  build  upon  it  a  spacious 
stone  house,  intended  as  a  school  house  for  the  education  of 
negro  children.  The  Indians,  in  the  meanwhile,  loudly  ex 
claimed  against  the  white  people  for  settling  in  this  part  of 
the  country,  which  had  not  yet  been  legally  purchased  of 
them,  but,  as  they  said,  had  been  obtained  by  fraud.2  The 

1  [The  5,000  acres  at  Nazareth,  which  Whitefield  sold  to  the  Moravians  in  1741, 
were  first  held  by  Lsetitia  Aubrey,  to  whom  it  had  been  granted  by  her  father,  Wil 
liam  Penn,  in  1682.     The  right  of  erecting  this  tract,  or  any  portion  thereof,  into  a 
manor,  of  holding  court-baron  thereon,  and  of  holding  views  of  frankpledge  for  the 
conservation  of  the  peace,  were  special  privileges  accorded  to  the  grantee  by  the 
grantor.     It  was  one  of  few  of  the  original  grants  similarly  invested.     The  royalty, 
however,  in  all  cases  remained  a  dead  letter.] 

2  Alluding  to  what  was  at  that  time  known  by  the  name  of  the  long  day 's  walk. 


THE    INDIANS    AND    THE    WHITES    COMPARED.          337 

Brethren  declined  purchasing  any  lands  on  which  the  Indian 
title  had  not  been  properly  extinguished,  wishing  to  live  in 
peace  with  all  the  Indians  around  them.  Count  Zinzendorff 
happened  at  that  time  to  arrive  in  the  country ;  he  found  that 
the  agents  of  the  proprietors  would  not  pay  to  the  Indians  the 
price  which  they  asked  for  that  tract  of  land ;  he  paid  them  out 
of  his  private  purse  the  whole  of  the  demand  which  they  made 
in  the  height  of  their  ill  temper,  and  moreover  gave  them  per 
mission  to  abide  on  the  land,  at  their  village,  (where,  by  the 
by,  they  had  a  fine  large  peach  orchard,)  as  long  as  they  should 
think  proper.  But  among  those  white  men,  who  afterwards 
came  and  settled  in  the  neighbourhood  of  their  tract,  there 
were  some  who  were  enemies  to  the  Indians,  and  a  young 
Irishman,  without  cause  or  provocation,  murdered  their  good 
and  highly  respected  chief  Tademi^  a  man  of  such  an  easy  and 
friendly  address,  that  he  could  not  but  be  loved  by  all  who  knew 
him.  This,  together  with  the  threats  of  other  persons,  ill  dis 
posed  towards  them,  was  the  cause  of  their  leaving  their  settle 
ment  on  this  manor,  and  removing  to  places  of  greater  safety 

It  is  true,  that  when  flagrant  cases  of  this  description  occurred 
the  government,  before  the  Revolution,  issued  proclamations 
offering  rewards  for  apprehending  the  offenders,  and  in  later 
times,  since  the  country  has  become  more  thickly  settled,  those 
who  had  been  guilty  of  such  offences  were  brought  before  the 
tribunals  to  take  their  trials.  But  these  formalities  have  proved 
of  little  avail.  In  the  first  case,  the  criminals  were  seldom,  if 
ever,  apprehended ;  in  the  second,  no  jury  could  be  found  to 
convict  them ;  for  it  was  no  uncommon  saying  among  many  of 
the  men  of  whom  juries  in  the  frontier  countries  were  commonly 
composed,  that  no  man  should  be  put  to  death  for  killing  an  In 
dian  ;  for  it  was  the  same  thing  as  killing  a  wild  beast ! 

But  what  shall  I  say  of  the  conduct  of  the  British  agents,  or 
deputy  agents,  or  by  whatsoever  other  name  they  may  be  called, 
who,  at  the  commencement  of  the  American  Revolution,  openly 
excited  the  Indians  to  kill  and  destroy  all  the  rebels  without 
distinction?  "Kill  all  the  rebels,"  they  would  say,  "put  them 

1  See  above,  p.  302. 
22 


338          THE     INDIANS    AND    THE    WHITES    COMPARED. 

all  to  death,  and  spare  none."  A  veteran  chief  of  the  Wyandot 
nation,  who  resided  near  Detroit,  observed  to  one  of  them  that 
surely  it  was  meant  that  they  should  kill  men  only,  and  not 
women  and  children.  "  No,  no,"  was  the  answer,  "  kill  all,  de 
stroy  all ;  nits  breed  lice  !  "  The  brave  veteran1  was  so  disgusted 
with  this  reply,  that  he  refused  to  go  out  at  all ;  wishing  how 
ever  to  see  and  converse  with  his  old  brother  soldiers  of  the 
Delaware  nation,  with  whom  he  had  fought  against  the  English 
in  the  French  war,  he  took  the  command  of  a  body  of  ninety 
chosen  men,  and  being  arrived  at  the  seat  of  the  government  of 
the  Delawares,  on  the  Muskingum,  he  freely  communicated  to 
his  old  comrades  (among  whom  was  Glikhican,  whom  I  shall 
presently  have  occasion  further  to  mention)  what  had  taken 
place,  and  what  he  had  resolved  on  ;  saying  that  he  never  would 
be  guilty  of  killing  women  and  children  ;  that  this  was  the  first 
and  would  be  the  last  of  his  going  out  this  war ;  that  in  ten  days 
they  should  see  him  come  back  with  one  prisoner  only,  no  scalp  to 
a  pole,  and  no  life  lost.  He  kept  his  word.  The  sixteen  chiefs 
under  him,  from  respect  and  principle,  agreed  to  all  his  propo 
sals  and  wishes. 

How  different  the  conduct  of  the  Indians  from  that  of  their 
inhuman  employers !  I  have  already  related  the  noble  speech 
of  Captain  Pipe  to  the  British  Commandant  at  Detroit,  and  I  have 
done  justice  to  the  character  of  that  brave  officer,  who  surely 
ought  not  to  be  confounded  with  those  Indian  agents  that  I  have 
spoken  of.  But  what  said  Pipe  to  him  ?  "  Innocence  had  no 
part  in  your  quarrels ;  and  therefore  I  distinguished  —  I  spared. 
Father !  I  hope  you  will  not  destroy  what  I  have  saved  !  "  2  I 
have  also  told  the  conduct  of  the  two  young  spirited  Delawares 3 
who  saved  the  life  of  the  venerable  Missionary  Zeisberger,  at  the 
risk  of  their  own.  But  it  is  not  only  against  their  own  people 
that  Indians  have  afforded  their  protection  to  white  men,  but 
against  the  whites  themselves. 

In  the  course  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  in  which  (as  in  all  civil 
commotions)  brother  was  seen  fighting  against  brother,  and 

1  The  same  of  whom  I  have  spoken  above,  p.  171. 

2  See  above,  pp.  135,  136.  3  Above,  p.  279. 


THE    INDIANS    AND    THE    WHITES    COMPARED.          339 

friend  against  friend,  a  party  of  Indian  warriors,  with  whom  one 
of  those  white  men,  who,  under  colour  of  attachment  to  their 
king,  indulged  in  every  sort  of  crimes,  was  going  out  against  the 
settlers  on  the  Ohio,  to  kill  and  destroy  as  they  had  been  or 
dered.  The  chief  of  the  expedition  had  given  strict  orders  not 
to  molest  any  of  the  white  men  who  lived  with  their  friends  the 
Christian  Indians;  yet  as  they  passed  near  a  settlement  of  these 
converts,  the  white  man,  unmindful  of  the  orders  he  had  received, 
attempted  to  shoot  two  of  the  Missionaries  who  were  planting 
potatoes  in  their  field,  and  though  the  captain  warned  him  to 
desist,  he  still  obstinately  persisted  in  his  attempt.  The  chief, 
in  anger,  immediately  took  his  gun  from  him,  and  kept  him  un 
der  guard  until  they  had  reached  a  considerable  distance  from  the 
place.  I  have  received  this  account  from  the  chief  himself,  who 
on  his  return  sent  word  to  the  Missionaries  that  they  would  do 
well  not  to  go  far  from  home,  as  they  were  in  too  great  danger 
from  the  white  people. 

Another  white  man  of  the  same  description,  whom  I  well 
knew,  related  with  a  kind  of  barbarous  exultation,  on  his  return 
to  Detroit  from  a  war  excursion  with  the  Indians  in  which  he 
had  been  engaged,  that  the  party  with  which  he  was,  having 
taken  a  woman  prisoner  who  had  a  sucking  babe  at  her  breast, 
he  tried  to  persuade  the  Indians  to  kill  the  child,  lest  its  cries 
should  discover  the  place  where  they  were ;  the  Indians  were 
unwilling  to  commit  the  deed,  on  which  the  white  man  at  once 
jumped  up,  tore  the  child  from  its  mother's  arms  and  taking  it 
by  the  legs  dashed  its  head  against  a  tree,  so  that  the  brains  flew 
out  all  around.  The  monster  in  relating  this  story  said,  "  The 
little  dog  all  the  time  was  making  wee  !  "  He  added,  that  if  he 
were  sure  that  his  old  father,  who  some  time  before  had  died  in 
Old  Virginia,  would,  if  he  had  lived  longer,  have  turned  rebel, 
he  would  go  all  the  way  into  Virginia,  raise  the  body,  and  take 
off  his  scalp ! 

Let  us  now  contrast  with  this  the  conduct  of  the  Indians. 
Carver  tells  us  in  his  travels  with  what  moderation,  humanity 
and  delicacy  they  treat  female  prisoners,  and  particularly  preg 
nant  women.1  I  refer  the  reader  to  the  following  fact,  as  an  in- 

1  Carver's  Travels,  ch.  9,  p.  196.     Edit,  above  cited. 


34O         THE    INDIANS    AND    THE    WHITES    COMPARED. 

stance  of  their  conduct  in  such  cases.  If  his  admiration  is  excited 
by  the  behaviour  of  the  Indians,  I  doubt  not  that  his  indignation 
will  be  raised  in  an  equal  degree  by  that  of  a  white  man  who  un 
fortunately  acts  a  part  in  the  story. 

A  party  of  Delawares,  in  one  of  their  excursions  during  the 
Revolutionary  war,  took  a  white  female  prisoner.  The  Indian 
chief,  after  a  march  of  several  days,  observed  that  she  was  ailing, 
and  was  soon  convinced  (for  she  was  far  advanced  in  her  preg 
nancy)  that  the  time  of  her  delivery  was  near.  He  immediately 
made  a  halt  on  the  bank  of  a  stream,  where  at  a  proper  distance 
from  the  encampment,  he  built  for  her  a  close  hut  of  peeled 
barks,  gathered  dry  grass  and  fern  to  make  her  a  bed,  and  placed 
a  blanket  at  the  opening  of  the  dwelling  as  a  substitute  for  a 
door.  He  then  kindled  a  fire,  placed  a  pile  of  wood  near  it  to 
feed  it  occasionally,  and  placed  a  kettle  of  water  at  hand  where 
she  might  easily  use  it.  He  then  took  her  into  her  little  infir 
mary,  gave  her  Indian  medicines,  with  directions  how  to  use 
them,  and  told  her  to  rest  easy  and  she  might  be  sure  that  noth 
ing  should  disturb  her.  Having  done  this,  he  returned  to  his 
men,  forbade  them  from  making  any  noise,  or  disturbing  the 
sick  woman  in  any  manner,  and  told  them  that  he  himself  should 
guard  her  during  the  night.  He  did  so,  and  the  whole  night 
kept  watch  before  her  door,  walking  backward  and  forward,  to 
be  ready  at  her  call  at  any  moment,  in  case  of  extreme  necessity. 
The  night  passed  quietly,  but  in  the  morning,  as  he  was  walking 
by  on  the  bank  of  the  stream,  seeing  him  through  the  crevices, 
she  called  to  him  and  presented  her  babe.  The  good  chief,  with 
tears  in  his  eyes,  rejoiced  at  her  safe  delivery;  he  told  her 
not  to  be  uneasy,  that  he  should  lay  by  for  a  few  days  and 
would  soon  bring  her  some  nourishing  food,  and  some  medi 
cines  to  take.  Then  going  to  his  encampment,  he  ordered  all 
his  men  to  go  out  a  hunting,  and  remained  himself  to  guard 
the  camp. 

Now  for  the  reverse  of  the  picture.  Among  the  men  whom 
this  chief  had  under  his  command,  was  one  of  those  white 
vagabonds  whom  I  have  before  described.  The  captain  was 
much  afraid  of  him,  knowing  him  to  be  a  bad  man  ;  and  as  he 
had  expressed  a  great  desire  to  go  a  hunting  with  the  rest, 


THE    INDIANS    AND    THE    WHITES    COMPARED.         34! 

he  believed  him  gone,  and  entertained  no  fears  for  the  woman's 
safety.  But  it  was  not  long  before  he  was  undeceived.  While 
he  was  gone  to  a  small  distance  to  dig  roots  for  his  poor 
patient,  he  heard  her  cries,  and  running  with  speed  to  her  hut, 
he  was  informed  by  her  that  the  white  man  had  threatened  to 
take  her  life  if  she  did  not  immediately  throw  her  child  into  the 
river.  The  Captain,  enraged  at  the  cruelty  of  this  man,  and  the 
liberty  he  had  taken  with  his  prisoner,  hailed  him  as  he  was 
running  off,  and  told  him,  "That  the  moment  he  should  miss 
the  child,  the  tomahawk  should  be  in  his  head."  After  a 
few  days  this  humane  chief  placed  the  woman  carefully  on  a 
horse,  and  they  went  together  to  the  place  of  their  destina 
tion,  the  mother  and  child  doing  well.  I  have  heard  him  relate 
this  story,  to  which  he  added,  that  whenever  he  should  go  out 
on  an  excursion,  he  never  would  suffer  a  white  man  to  be  of 
his  party. 

Yet  I  must  acknowledge  that  I  have  known  an  Indian  chief 
who  had  been  guilty  of  the  crime  of  killing  the  child  of  a 
female  prisoner.  It  was  Glikhican,1  of  whom  I  have  before 
spoken,  as  one  of  the  friends  of  the  brave  Wyandot  who  ex 
pressed  so  much  horror  at  the  order  given  to  him  by  the  Indian 
agents  to  murder  women  and  children.2  In  the  year  1770,  he 
joined  the  congregation  of  the  Christian  Indians  ;  the  details  of 
his  conversion  are  related  at  large  by  Loskiel  in  his  History  of 
the  Missions.3  Before  that  time  he  had  been  conspicuous  as  a 
warrior  and  a  counsellor,  and  in  oratory  it  is  said  he  never  was 
surpassed.  This  man,  having  joined  the  French,  in  the  year 
1754,  or  1755,  in  their  war  against  the  English,  and  being  at 
that  time  out  with  a  party  of  Frenchmen,  took,  among  other 
prisoners,  a  young  woman  named  Rachel  Abbott,  from  the  Cone- 

1  [Glikhican,  one  of  the  converts  of  distinction  attached  to  the  Moravian  mission, 
was  a  man  of  note  among  his  people,  both  in  the  council  chamber  and  on  the  war 
path.     When  the  Moravians  first  met  him  he  resided  at  Kaskaskunk,  on  the  Beaver, 
and  at  Friedenstadt,  on  that  river,  he  was  baptized  by  David  Zeisberger  in  December 
of  1770.     Subsequently  he  became  a  "  national  assistant  "  in  the  work  of  the  Gospel, 
lived  consistently  with  his  profession,  and  met  his  death  at  the  hands  of  William- 
son's  men  at  Gnadenhutten  in  March  of  1782.] 

2  See  above,  p.  338. 

8  Loskiel,  p.  3,  ch.  3. 


342         THE    INDIANS    AND    THE    WHITES    COMPARED. 

gocheague  settlement,1  who  had  at  her  breast  a  sucking  babe. 
The  incessant  cries  of  the  child,  the  hurry  to  get  off,  but  above 
all,  the  persuasions  of  his  white  companions,  induced  him,  much 
against  his  inclination,  to  kill  the  innocent  creature ;  while  the 
mother,  in  an  agony  of  grief,  and  her  face  suffused  with  tears, 
begged  that  its  life  might  be  spared.  The  woman,  however,  was 
brought  safe  to  the  Ohio,  where  she  was  kindly  treated  and' 
adopted,  and  some  years  afterwards  was  married  to  a  Delaware 
chief  of  respectability,  by  whom  she  had  several  children,  who 
are  now  living  with  the  Christian  Indians  in  Upper  Canada. 

Glikhican  never  forgave  himself  for  having  committed  this 
crime,  although  many  times,  and  long  before  his  becoming  a 
Christian,  he  had  begged  the  woman's  pardon  with  tears  in  his 
eyes,  and  received  her  free  and  full  forgiveness.  In  vain  she 
pointed  out  to  him  all  the  circumstances  that  he  could  have 
alleged  to  excuse  the  deed ;  in  vain  she  reminded  him  of  his 
unwillingness  at  the  time,  and  his  having  been  in  a  manner  com 
pelled  to  it  by  his  French  associates;  nothing  'hat  she  did  say 
could  assuage  his  sorrow  or  quiet  the  perturbation  of  his  mind ; 
he  called  himself  a  wretch,  a  monster,  a  coward  (the  proud  feel 
ings  of  an  Indian  must  be  well  understood  to  judge  of  the  force 
of  this  self-accusation),  and  to  the  moment  of  his  death  the  re 
membrance  of  this  fatal  act  preyed  like  a  canker  worm  upon  his 
spirits.  I  ought  to  add,  that  from  the  time  of  his  conversion,  he 
lived  the  life  of  a  Christian,  and  died  as  such. 

The  Indians  are  cruel  to  their  enemies !  In  some  cases  they 
are,  but  perhaps  not  more  so  than  white  men  have  sometimes 
shewn  themselves.  There  have  been  instances  of  white  men 
flaying  or  taking  off  the  skin  of  Indians  who  had  fallen  into  their 
hands,  then  tanning  those  skins,  or  cutting  them  in  pieces, 
making  them  up  into  razor-straps,  and  exposing  those  for  sale, 
as  was  done  at  or  near  Pittsburg  sometime  during  the  Revolu 
tionary  war.  Those  things  are  abominations  in  the  eyes  of  the 

1  [The  valley  of  the  Conecocheague,  which  stream  drains  Franklin  County,  Penn 
sylvania,  was  explored  and  settled  about  1730  by  Scotch-Irish  pioneers,  among 
whom  were  three  brothers  of  the  name  of  Chambers.  The  site  of  Chambersburg  was 
built  on  by  Joseph  Chambers.  The  Conecocheague  settlement  suffered  much  from 
the  Indians  after  Braddock's  defeat  in  1755.] 


THE    INDIANS    AND    THE    WHITES    COMPARED.          343 

Indians,  who,  indeed,  when  strongly  excited,  inflict  torments  on 
their  prisoners  and  put  them  to  death  by  cruel  tortures,  but 
never  are  guilty  of  acts  of  barbarity  in  cold  blood.  Neither 
do  the  Delawares  and  some  other  Indian  nations,  ever  on  any 
account  disturb  the  ashes  of  the  dead. 

The  custom  of  torturing  prisoners  is  of  ancient  date,  and  was 
first  introduced  as  a  trial  of  courage.  I  have  been  told,  however, 
that  among  some  tribes  it  has  never  been  in  use ;  but  it  must  be 
added  that  those  tribes  gave  no  quarter.  The  Delawares  accuse 
the  Iroquois  of  having  been  the  inventors  of  this  piece  of  cruelty, 
and  charge  them  further  with  eating  the  flesh  of  their  prisoners 
after  the  torture  was  over.  Be  this  as  it  may,  there  are  now  but 
few  instances  of  prisoners  being  put  to  death  in  this  manner. 

Rare  as  these  barbarous  executions  now  are,  I  have  reason  to 
believe  that  they  would  be  still  less  frequent,  if  proper  pains 
were  taken  to  turn  the  Indians  away  from  this  heathenish  cus 
tom.  Instead  of  this,  it  is  but  too  true  that  they  have  been 
excited  to  cruelty  by  unprincipled  white  men,  who  have  joined 
in  their  war-feasts,  and  even  added  to  the  barbarity  of  the  scene. 
Can  there  be  a  more  brutal  act  than,  after  furnishing  those  sava 
ges,  as  they  are  called,  with  implements  of  war  and  destruction, 
to  give  them  an  ox  to  kill  and  to  roast  whole,  to  dance  the  war 
dance  with  them  round  the  slaughtered  animal,  strike  at  him, 
stab  him,  telling  the  Indians  at  the  same  time  :  "  Strike,  stab  ! 
Thus  you  must  do  to  your  enemy !  "  Then  taking  a  piece  of  the 
meat,  and  tearing  it  with  their  teeth  :  "  So  you  must  eat  his 
flesh!"  and  sucking  up  the  juices:  "Thus  you  must  drink  his 
blood !  "  and  at  last  devour  the  whole  as  wolves  do  a  carcass. 
This  is  what  is  known  to  have  been  done  by  some  of  those 
Indian  agents  that  I  have  mentioned. 

"Is  this  possible?"  the  reader  will  naturally  exclaim.  Yes,  it 
is  possible,  and  every  Indian  warrior  will  tell  you  that  it  is  true. 
It  has  come  to  me  from  so  many  credible  sources,  that  I  am 
forced  to  believe  it.  How  can  the  Indians  now  be  reproached 
with  acts  of  cruelty  to  which  they  have  been  excited  by  those 
who  pretended  to  be  Christians  and  civilised  men,  but  who  were 
worse  savages  than  those  whom,  no  doubt,  they  were  ready  to 
brand  with  that  name? 


344         THE    INDIANS    AND    THE    WHITES    COMPARED. 

When  hostile  governments  give  directions  to  employ  the 
Indians  against  their  enemies,  they  surely  do  not  know  that 
such  is  the  manner  in  which  their  orders  are  to  be  executed ; 
but  let  me  tell  them  and  every  government  who  will  descend  to 
employing  these  auxiliaries,  that  this  is  the  only  way  in  which 
their  subaltern  agents  will  and  can  proceed  to  make  their  aid 
effectual.  The  Indians  are  not  fond  of  interfering  in  quarrels 
not  their  own,  and  will  not  fight  with  spirit  for  the  mere  sake  of 
a  livelihood  which  they  can  obtain  in  a  more  agreeable  manner 
by  hunting  and  their  other  ordinary  occupations.  Their  passions 
must  be  excited,  and  that  is  not  easily  done  when  they  them 
selves  have  not  received  any  injury  from  those  against  whom 
they  are  desired  to  fight.  Behold,  then,  the  abominable  course 
which  must  unavoidably  be  resorted  to  —  to  induce  them  to  do 
what  ?  —  to  lay  waste  the  dwelling  of  the  peaceable  cultivator  of 
the  land,  and  to  murder  his  innocent  wife  and  his  helpless  chil 
dren  !  I  cannot  pursue  this  subject  farther,  although  I  am  far 
from  having  exhausted  it.  I  have  said  enough  to  enable  the 
impartial  reader  to  decide  which  of  the  two  classes  of  men,  the 
Indians  and  the  whites,  are  most  justly  entitled  to  the  epithets 
of  brutes,  barbarians,  and  savages.  It  is  not  for  me  to  anticipate 
his  decision. 

But  if  the  Indians,  after  all,  are  really  those  horrid  monsters 
which  they  are  alleged  to  be,  two  solemn,  serious  questions  have 
often  occurred  to  my  mind,  to  which  I  wish  the  partisans  of  that 
doctrine  would  give  equally  serious  answers. 

1.  Can  civilised  nations,  can  nations  which  profess  Christianity, 
be  justified  in  employing  people  of  that  description  to  aid  them 
in   fighting  their  battles  against  their  enemies,  Christians  like 
themselves  ? 

2.  When  such  nations  offer  up  their  prayers  to  the  throne  of 
the  most  High,  supplicating  the  Divine  Majesty  to  grant  success 
to  their  arms,  can  they,  ought  they  to  expect  that  those  prayers 
will  be  heard? 

I  have  done.  Let  me  only  be  permitted,  in  conclusion,  to 
express  my  firm  belief,  the  result  of  much  attentive  observation 
and  long  experience  while  living  among  the  Indians,  that  if  we 
would  only  observe  towards  them  the  first  and  most  important 


THE    INDIANS    AND    THE    WHITES    COMPARED.          345 

precept  of  our  holy  religion,  "  to  do  to  others  as  we  would  be 
done  to  ;  "  if,  instead  of  employing  them  to  fight  our  battles,  we 
encouraged  them  to  remain  at  peace  with  us  and  with  each 
other,  they  might  easily  be  brought  to  a  state  of  civilisation, 
and  become  CHRISTIANS. 

I  still  indulge  the  hope  that  this  work  will  be  accomplished 
by  a  wise  and  benevolent  government.  Thus  we  shall  demon 
strate  the  falsity  of  the  prediction  of  the  Indian  prophets,  who 
say :  "  That  when  the  whites  shall  have  ceased  killing  the  red 
men,  and  got  all  their  lands  from  them,  the  great  tortoise  which 
bears  this  island  upon  his  back,  shall  dive  down  into  the  deep 
and  drown  them  all,  as  he  once  did  before,  a  great  many  years 
ago ;  and  that  when  he  again  rises,  the  Indians  shall  once  more 
be  put  in  possession  of  the  whole  country." 


CONCLUSION. 

HAVE  thus  finished  the  work  which  was  required 
of  me  by  the  Historical  Committee  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society.  On  reading  over  the  printed 
sheets  which  have  been  kindly  sent  to  me  from  Phila 
delphia,  as  they  issued  from  the  press,  I  have  noticed  several 
errors,  some  of  which  may  be  ascribed  to  me,  others  to  the  trans 
criber  of  the  manuscript,  and  very  few  to  the  printer.  I  regret 
that  there  are  among  them  some  mistakes  in  dates  and  names 
of  places ;  they  are  all  rectified  in  the  errata. 

I  am  very  sensible  of  the  many  defects  of  this  little  work  in 
point  of  method,  arrangement,  composition  and  style.  I  am  not 
an  author  by  profession ;  the  greatest  part  of  my  life  was  spent 
among  savage  nations,  and  I  have  now  reached  the  age  of 
seventy-five,  at  which  period  of  life  little  improvement  can  be 
expected.  It  is  not,  therefore,  as  an  author  that  I  wish  to  be 
judged,  but  as  a  sincere  relator  of  facts  that  have  fallen  within 
my  observation  and  knowledge.  I  declare  that  I  have  said 
nothing  but  what  I  certainly  know  or  verily  believe.  In  matters 
of  mere  opinion,  I  may  be  contradicted ;  but  in  points  of  fact  I 
have  been  even  scrupulous,  and  purposely  omitted  several  anec 
dotes  for  which  I  could  not  sufficiently  vouch.  In  my  descrip 
tions  of  character,  I  may  have  been  an  unskilful  painter,  and  ill 
chosen  expressions  may  imperfectly  have  sketched  out  the 
images  that  are  imprinted  on  my  mind ;  but  the  fault  is  in  the 
writer,  not  in  the  man. 

It  is  with  pleasure  that  I  inform  the  reader  that  the  parts  of 

346 


CONCLUSION.  347 

Mr.  Zeisberger's  Iroquois  Dictionary  which  I  have  mentioned 
above,  (pages  97,  118,)  as  being  irretrievably  lost,  have  most 
fortunately  been  found  since  this  work  is  in  the  press.  The  book 
has  been  neatly  bound  in  seven  quarto  volumes,  and  will  remain 
a  monument  of  the  richness  and  comprehensiveness  of  the  lan 
guages  of  the  Indian  nations.  Several  valuable  grammatical 
works  on  the  same  language,  by  the  same  author  and  Mr.  Pyr- 
laeus,  have  been  recovered  at  the  same  time,  by  means  of  which, 
the  idiom  of  the  Six  Nations  may  now  be  scientifically  studied. 

When  I  spoke  (p.  136)  of  the  impression  made  by  Captain 
Pipe's  speech  "  on  all  present,"  I  meant  only  on  those  who 
understood  the  language;  for  there  were  many  who  did  not, 
and  M.  Baby,  the  Canadian  interpreter,  did  not  explain  to  the 
bystanders  the  most  striking  passages,  but  went  now  and  then 
to  the  Commandant  and  whispered  in  his  ear.  Captain  Pipe, 
while  he  spoke,  was  exceedingly  animated,  and  twice  advanced 
so  near  to  the  Commandant,  that  M.  Baby  ordered  him  to  fall 
back  to  his  place.  All  who  were  present  must  have  at  least 
suspected  that  his  speech  was  not  one  of  the  ordinary  kind,  and 
that  everything  was  not  as  they  might  suppose  it  ought  to  be. 

I  promised  in  my  introduction  (p.  xxvi.)  to  subjoin  an  explana 
tory  list  of  the  Indian  nations  which  I  have  mentioned  in  the 
course  of  this  work,  but  I  find  that  I  have  been  so  full  on  the 
subject  that  such  a  list  is  unnecessary. 

I  have  classed  the  Florida  Indians  together  in  respect  of  lan 
guage,  on  the  supposition  that  they  all  speak  dialects  of  the  same 
mother  tongue ;  the  fact,  however,  may  be  otherwise,  though  it 
will  be  extraordinary  that  there  should  be  several  languages 
entirely  different  from  each  other  in  the  narrow  strip  of  land 
between  the  Carolinas  and  the  Mississippi,  when  there  are  but 
two  principal  ones  in  the  rest  of  the  United  States.  It  is  to  be 
expected  that  the  researches  of  the  Historical  Committee  will 
throw  light  upon  this  subject. 


ERRATA  IN   PART   I. 


PAGE  26,  LINE  5  —  Between  the  words  "if"  and  "what"  insert  "we  can  credit" 

30,  15  —  For  "declaring  at  the  same  time"  read" a nd  declared  after 

wards." 

31,  8  —  For  ''•Mohicans"  read  "Lenape" 

67,  14  —  For  "  1742"  read  "  and  November  1756." 

72,  12  —  Dele  "  in  which" 

77,  17  —  For  "Delawares"  read  "Mohicans" 

80,  18  —  For  "  1787"  read  "  1781." 

81,  5  —  For  "us"  read  "them" 

84,  12  —  For  "  Mousey s  "  read  "  Monseys. ' ' 

23 —  Beginning  a  paragraph,  for  "  1768,  about  six"  read  "  1772,  a 
few" 

85,  29  —  Of  third  note,  for  "Shawanachau  "  read  "Shawanachan" 

90,  13  —  For  "Shawanos"  read  "Nanticokes" 

91,  13  —  For  "  schscheqtwn  ' '  read  "  shechschequon." 

92,  29  and  30 —  For  "  7*awachgudno  "  read  "  Tayachguano" 
no,  12  —  For  "once"  read  "sometimes." 

Ill,  8  —  For  "  should  "  read  "  deserved  to" 

10  —  For"/0"  read  "  out  at." 

12  —  Dele  " outside  of  the  door  and" 

1 18,  15  —  For  "  Thornhallesen  "  read  "  Thorhallesen." 

122,  10  —  Of  the  first  note,  for  "/.  3"  read  "/.  5." 

130,  8  —  For  "or"  read  "nor." 

131,  22  —  For  "met"  read  "saw" 
25  —  For  "days"  read  "hours" 

T33>  5  —  For  "December"  read  "November." 

140,  10  —  Of  No.  43,  for  "with"  read  "<?/"." 

143,  34  —  For  "they"  read  "//$<?  Chippeways  and  some  other  nations" 

146,  17  —  For  "your"  read  llyon." 

1 50,  4  —  After  the  word  "  nation  "  insert  "  which  they  do  not  approve  of" 

r53>  31  —  For  "they  sure'1'1  read  "they  are  sure" 

160,  32  —  For  "  reply  "  read  "  answer." 

1 64,  26  —  For  ' '  decide ' '  read  "  say" 

28  —  For  "  man  "  read  "  men." 

1 66,  2  —  Between  "  is  "  and  "  even  "  insert  "  sometimes." 
22  —  For  "  an  old  Indian  "  read  "  several  old  men." 

167,  II  and  13  —  For  "road"  read  "course." 
1 74,  18  —  For  " where "  read  " whence" 

I78>  33  —  For  "Diike  Holland"  read  "Luke  Holland;  "  the  same  where 

the  name  again  occurs. 
2OI,  5  —  T^Q\e  " again." 

216,  29  —  For  "very  often"  read  "sometimes" 

217,  2  —  For  "  inches  "  read  "feet." 

218,  14—  For  "of"  read  "<?«." 

243>  3  —  For  "Americans"  read  "white  men" 

250,  9  —  For  "  killed : '  read  "  eaten." 

253»  37  —  For  "Pauk-sit "  read  "P  'duk-sit." 

263,  14  —  Dele  "  lands  or." 

27&>  35  —  For  "Albany  "  read  "Pittsburgh." 

283,  31  —  For  "Sandusky"  read  "Muskingum." 

293,  26  —  For  " bought"  read  "  brought." 

313,  23  —  For  "//&««  "  read  "  us." 

348 


PART  II. 


CORRESPONDENCE 


BETWEEN 


THE  REV.  JOHN  HECKEWELDER. 

OF   BETHLEHEM, 


AND 


PETER  S.  DUPONCEAU,  ESQ., 

CORRESPONDING  SECRETARY  OF  THE  HISTORICAL  AND  LITERARY 
COMMITTEE  OF  THE  AMERICAN  PHILOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY, 


RESPECTING   THE 


Languages  of  the  American  Indians. 


349 


THE  following  Correspondence  between  Mr.  Heckewelder  and  Peter  S.  Du  Pon 
ceau,  Esq.,  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Historical  and  Literary  Committee  of  the 
American  Philosophical  Society,  and  subsequently,  till  his  death  in  1844,  President 
of  that  Society,  is  appended  as  a  fitting  sequel  to  the  preceding  Account. 


350 


|HE  Historical  and  Literary  Committee  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society,  desirous  of  taking  the  most 
effectual  means  to  promote  the  objects  of  their  insti 
tution,  directed  their  corresponding  secretary  to  ad 
dress  letters  in  their  name  to  such  persons  in  the  United  States 
as  had  turned  their  attention  to  similar  objects,  and  solicit  their 
assistance. 

Among  other  well-informed  individuals,  the  Reverend  Mr. 
Heckewelder  of  Bethlehem  was  pointed  out  by.  the  late  Dr.  Cas 
par  Wistar,  President  o;  the  Society,  and  one  of  the  most  active 
and  useful  members  of  the  Committee,  as  a  gentleman  whose 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  American  Indians,  their  usages,  man 
ners  and  languages,  enabled  him  to  afford  much  important  aid 
to  their  labours.  In  consequence  of  this  suggestion,  the  secre 
tary  wrote  to  Mr.  Heckewelder  the  letter  No.  I,  and  Dr.  Wistar 
seconded  his  application  by  the  letter  No.  2.  The  languages  of 
the  Indians  were  not  at  that  time  particularly  in  the  view  of  the 
Committee;  the  manners  and  customs  of  those  nations  were  the 
principal  subjects  on  which  they  wished  and  expected  to  receive 
information.  But  Mr.  Heckewelder  having  with  his  letter  No.  4, 
sent  them  the  MS.  of  Mr.  Zeisberger's  Grammar  of  the  Delaware 
Language,  that  communication  had  the  effect  of  directing  their 
attention  to  this  interesting  subject. 

This  MS.  being  written  in  German,  was  not  intelligible  to  the 
greatest  number  of  the  members.  Two  of  them,  the  Reverend 
Dr.  Nicholas  Collin,  and  the  corresponding  secretary,  were  par- 


352  INTRODUCTION. 

ticularly  anxious  to  be  honoured  with  the  task  of  translating  it ; 
but  the  secretary  having  claimed  this  labour  as  part  of  his  official 
duty,  it  was  adjudged  to  him.  While  he  was  translating  that 
work,  he  was  struck  with  the  beauty  of  the  grammatical  forms 
of  the  Lenape  idiom,  which  led  him  to  ask  through  Dr.  Wistar 
some  questions  of  Mr.  Heckewelder,1  which  occurred  to  him  as 
he  was  pursuing  his  labours,  and  produced  the  correspondence 
now  published,  which  was  carried  on  by  the  direction  and  under 
the  sanction  of  the  Committee. 

The  letters  which  passed  at  the  beginning  between  Dr.  Wistar 
and  Mr.  Zeisberger,2  and  are  here  published  in  their  regular 
order,  do  not,  it  is  true,  form  a  necessary  part  of  this  collection ; 
but  it  will  be  perceived,  that  to  the  two  letters  of  Dr.  Wistar, 
Nos.  2  and  6,  we  are  indebted  for  the  valuable  Historical  Ac 
count  of  the  Indians,  which  forms  the  first  number  of  this  volume. 
It  is  just  that  he  should  have  the  credit  due  to  his  active  and 
zealous  exertions. 

It  was  intended  that  Mr.  Zeisberger's  Grammar  should  have 
immediately  followed  this  Correspondence,  which  was  considered 
as  introductory  to  it.  But  it  being  now  evident  that  it  would 
increase  too  much  the  size  of  the  volume,  its  publication  is  for 
the  present  postponed. 

1  Letter  V.  2  For  "Zeisberger"  read  "Heckewelder." 


CORRESPONDENCE 

RESPECTING  THE  INDIAN  LANGUAGES. 


LETTER   I. 

MR.  DUPONCEAU  TO  MR.  HECKEWELDER. 

PHILADELPHIA,  gih  January,  1816. 

SIR.  —  As  corresponding  secretary  to  the  Historical  Com 
mittee  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  it  is  my  duty  to 
solicit  the  aid  of  men  of  learning  and  information,  by  the  help 
of  whose  knowledge  light  may  be  thrown  on  the  yet  obscure 
history  of  the  early  times  of  the  colonization  of  this  country,  and 
particularly  of  this  State.  Our  much-respected  President  and 
common  friend,  Dr.  Wistar,  has  often  spoken  to  me  of  the  great 
knowledge  which  you  possess  respecting  the  Indians  who  once 
inhabited  these  parts,  and  of  your  intimate  acquaintance  with 
their  languages,  habits  and  history.  He  had  promised  me,  when 
you  was  last  here,  to  do  me  the  favour  of  introducing  me  to  you, 
but  the  bad  state  of  his  health  and  other  circumstances  prevented 
it,  which  has  been  and  still  is  to  me  the  cause  of  much  regret. 
Permit  me,  sir,  on  the  strength  of  his  recommendation,  and  the 
assurance  he  has  given  me  that  I  might  rely  on  your  zeal  and 
patriotic  feelings,  to  request,  in  the  name  of  the  Historical  Com 
mittee,  that  you  will  be  so  good  as  to  aid  their  labours  by  occa 
sional  communications  on  the  various  subjects  that  are  familiar 
to  you  and  which  relate  to  the  early  history  of  this  country. 
Accounts  of  the  various  nations  of  Indians  which  have  at  differ 
ent  times  inhabited  Pennsylvania,  their  numbers,  origin,  migra- 
23  353 


354  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

tions,  connexions  with  each  other,  the  parts  which  they  took  in 
the  English  and  French  wars  and  in  the  Revolutionary  war, 
their  manners,  customs,  languages,  and  religion,  will  be  very 
acceptable,  as  well  as  every  thing  which  you  may  conceive  inter 
esting,  on  a  subject  which  at  no  distant  period  will  be  involved 
in  obscurity  and  doubt,  for  want  of  the  proper  information  having 
been  given  in  time  by  those  cotemporaries  who  now  possess  the 
requisite  knowledge  and  are  still  able  to  communicate  it.  I  hope, 
sir,  that  you  will  be  able  to  find  some  moments  of  leisure  to 
comply,  at  least  in  part,  with  this  request,  which  you  may  do  in 
any  form  that  you  may  think  proper.  If  that  of  occasional  let 
ters  to  Dr.  Wistar  or  myself  should  be  the  most  agreeable  or 
convenient  to  you,  you  may  adopt  it,  or  any  other  mode  that  you 
may  prefer.  I  beg  you  will  favour  me  with  an  answer  as  soon 
as  possible,  that  I  may  be  able  to  inform  the  Committee  of  what 
they  may  expect  from  you.  You  may  be  assured  that  all  your 
communications  will  be  respectfully  and  thankfully  received. 

I  am,  very  respectfully,  Sir, 
Your  most  obedient  humble  servant, 

PETER  S.  DUPONCEAU, 
Corresponding  Secretary. 


LETTER    II. 

DR.  C.  WISTAR  TO  MR.  HECKEWELDER. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Qth  January,  1816. 

MY  DEAR  SIR.  —  Inclosed  is  a  letter  from  the  corresponding 
secretary  of  the  Historical  Committee  of  our  Society,  which 
will  inform  you  of  our  wishes  to  preserve  from  oblivion,  and  to 
make  public,  all  the  interesting  information  we  can  procure  re 
specting  the  history  of  our  country  and  its  original  inhabitants. 
I  believe  there  is  no  other  person  now  living  who  knows  so 
much  respecting  the  Indians  who  inhabited  this  part  of  America, 
as  you  do,  and  there  is  no  one  whose  relations  will  be  received 
with  more  confidence. 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  355 

I  hope  you  will  approve  of  this  method  of  favouring  the  pub 
lic  with  your  information,  and  we  will  endeavour  to  give  you  no 
trouble  in  publishing  after  you  have  favoured  us  with  the  com 
munications.  It  will  be  particularly  agreeable  to  the  society  to 
receive  from  you  an  account  of  the  Lenni  Lenape,  as  they  were 
at  the  time  when  the  settlement  of  Pennsylvania  commenced, 
and  of  their  history  and  misfortunes  since  that  time;  as  these 
subjects  are  so  intimately  connected  with  the  history  of  our 
State.  The  history  of  the  Shawanese,  and  of  the  Six  Nations 
will  be  very  interesting  to  us  for  the  same  reason.  But  every 
thing  which  throws  light  upon  the  nature  of  the  Indians,  their 
manners  and  customs  ;  their  opinions  upon  all  interesting  sub 
jects,  especially  religion  and  government ;  their  agriculture  and 
modes  of  procuring  subsistence ;  their  treatment  of  their  wives 
and  children;  their  social  intercourse  with  each  other;  and  in 
short,  every  thing  relating  to  them  which  is  interesting  to  you, 
will  be  very  instructing  to  the  Society.  A  fair  view  of  the  mind 
and  natural  disposition  of  the  savage,  and  its  difference  from  that 
of  the  civilised  man,  would  be  an  acceptable  present  to  the  world. 

You  have  long  been  a  member  of  the  Society;  may  we  ask  of 
you  to  communicate  to  us  what  you  know  and  think  ought  to  be 
published,  respecting  the  wild  animals,  or  the  native  plants  of 
our  country.  The  original  object  of  our  association  was  to 
bring  together  gentlemen  like  yourself,  who  have  a  great  deal 
of  information  in  which  the  public  take  an  interest,  that  they 
might  publish  it  together ;  and  while  an  intercourse  with  you 
will  give  us  all  great  pleasure,  it  will  perhaps  be  a  very  easy 
way  for  you  to  oblige  the  world  with  your  knowledge,  as  we 
will  take  the  whole  care  of  the  publication.  The  information 
respecting  our  country  which  has  been  obtained  by  the  very 
respectable  Brethren  of  Bethlehem,  and  is  contained  in  their 
archives,  will,  I  believe,  be  more  perfectly  offered  to  the  world 
by  you  at  present,  than  probably  it  ever  will  afterwards  by 
others ;  I  therefore  feel  very  desirous  that  you  should  engage 
in  it. 

The  facts  which  Mr.  Pyrlseus  recorded  there,  relative  to  the 
confederation  of  the  Six  Nations,  are  so  interesting  that  they 
ought  to  be  made  public. 


356  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

In  a  few  days  after  my  return  to  Philadelphia,  last  autumn,  I 
presented  in  your  name  to  the  Society  the  several  books  with 
which  you  favoured  me.  They  were  much  gratified,  for  they 
considered  them  as  truly  valuable,  and  the  secretary  was  re 
quested  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  them,  and  to  thank  you 
in  the  name  of  the  Society.  I  have  constantly  regretted  the 
attack  of  influenza  which  deprived  me  of  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
more  of  you  while  you  were  last  in  Philadelphia.  But  I  hope  we 
shall  meet  again  before  a  great  while,  and  I  shall  be  sincerely 
pleased  if  I  can  execute  any  of  your  commissions  here,  or  serve 
you  in  any  way ;  my  brother  joins  me  in  assuring  you  of  our 
best  wishes,  and  of  the  pleasure  we  derived  from  your  society. 
With  these  I  remain,  your  sincere  friend, 

C.  WISTAR. 


LETTER  III. 

MR.  HECKEWELDER  TO  DR.  WISTAR. 

BETHLEHEM,  24th  March,  1816. 

MY  DEAR  SIR. —  Last  evening  I  was  favoured  with  a  letter 
from  you,  covering  one  from  the  corresponding  secretary  of  the 
Historical  Committee  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society, 
dated  pth  January,  and  a  book,  for  which  I  return  my  best 
thanks.  If  an  apology  for  not  having  written  to  you  since  I  left 
Philadelphia  can  be  admitted,  it  must  be  that  of  my  having  been 
engaged  in  all  my  leisure  hours,  in  completing  my  narrative  of 
the  Mission,  a  work  of  which,  even  if  it  is  never  published,  I  wished 
for  good  reasons,  to  leave  a  manuscript  copy.  I  have  now  got 
through  with  the  principal  part,  but  have  to  copy  the  whole  text, 
and  in  part  to  write  the  notes,  remarks,  and  anecdotes  which  are 
intended  for  the  appendix.  While  writing,  it  has  sometimes 
struck  me,  that  there  might  probably  be  some  interesting  pas 
sages  in  the  work,  as  the  speeches  of  Indians  on  various  occa 
sions  ;  their  artful  and  cunning  ways  of  doing  at  times  business; 
I  had  almost  said  their  diplomatic  manoeuvres  as  politicians; 
their  addresses  on  different  occasions  to  the  Great  Spirit,  &c., 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  357 

which  are  here  noticed  in  their  proper  places.  I  think  much  of 
the  true  character  of  the  Indian  may  be  met  with  in  perusing 
this  work,  and  I  will  endeavour  to  forward  the  narrative  to  you 
and  your  brother  for  perusal,  after  a  little  while. 

Were  I  still  in  the  possession  of  all  the  manuscripts  which  I 
gave  to  my  friend  the  late  Dr.  Barton,  it  would  be  an  easy  mat 
ter  for  me  to  gratify  you  and  the  Philosophical  Society  in  their 
wishes,  but  having  retained  scarcely  any,  or  but  very  few  copies 
of  what  I  sent  him,  I  am  not  so  able  to  do  what  I  otherwise 
would  with  pleasure ;  I  shall,  however,  make  it  my  study  to  do 
what  I  can  yet,  though  I  am  aware  that  I  shall  in  some  points, 
differ  from  what  others  have  said  and  written.  I  never  was  one 
of  those  hasty  believers  and  writers,  who  take  the  shadow  for 
the  substance :  what  I  wished  to  know,  I  always  wished  to 
know  correctly. 

I  approve  of  the  mode  proposed  by  the  secretary  of  the  His 
torical  Committee,  to  make  communications  in  the  form  of  let 
ters,  which  is  for  me  the  easiest  and  quickest  mode.  In  the  same 
way  Dr.  Barton  received  much  interesting  matter  from  me 
within  the  last  20  or  30  years.  He  often  told  me  that  he  would 
publish  a  book,  and  make  proper  use  of  my  communications. 
Had  he  not  told  me  this  so  repeatedly,  I  should  long  since  have 
tried  to  correct  many  gross  errors,  written  and  published,  re 
specting  the  character  and  customs  of  the  Indians.  The  Lenni 
Lenape,  improperly  called  the  Delawares,  I  shall,  according  to 
their  tradition,  trace  across  the  Mississippi  into  this  country,  set 
forth  what  people  they  were,  what  parts  of  the  country  they 
inhabited,  and  how  they  were  brought  down  to  such  a  low 
state :  perhaps,  never  did  man  take  the  pains  that  I  did  for 
years,  to  learn  the  true  causes  of  the  decline  of  that  great  and 
powerful  nation. 

The  Grammar  of  the  language  of  the  Lenni  Lenape,  written 
by  David  Zeisberger,  is  still  in  my  hands.  By  his  will  it  is  to  be 
deposited  in  the  Brethren's  Archives  in  Bethlehem,  but  he  has 
not  prohibited  taking  a  copy  of  it.  Will  it  be  of  any  service  to 
the  Society  that  it  should  be  sent  down  for  a  few  months  for 
perusal,  or  if  thought  necessary,  to  take  a  copy  ?  If  so,  please 
to  let  me  know,  and  I  shall  send  it  with  pleasure.  It  is,  how- 


358  CORRESPONDENCE  RESPECTING 

ever,  German  and  Indian,  and  without  a  translation  will  be 
understood  but  by  few.  I  may  perhaps  find  other  documents 
interesting  to  the  Society,  as  for  example,  copies  of  letters  on 
Indian  business  and  treaties,  of  which  many  are  in  the  posses 
sion  of  Joseph  Horsfield,  Esq.,  son  of  the  late  Timothy  Horsfield, 
through  whom  they  have  come  into  his  hands,  and  who  is  willing 
to  communicate  them.1  I  am,  dear  friend, 

Yours  sincerely, 

J.  HECKEWELDER. 

P.  S. — Will  you  be  so  good  as  with  my  respects  to  mention  to 
the  secretary  that  I  have  received  his  letter,  and  shall  shortly 
answer  it  —  my  best  wishes  also  to  your  brother  Richard,  whom 
I  highly  esteem.  J.  H. 


LETTER    IV. 

FROM  THE  SAME  TO  THE  SAME. 

BETHLEHEM,  3d  April,  1816. 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND. —  With  Captain  Mann,  of  your  city,  I  send 
David  Zeisberger's  Grammar  of  the  Language  of  the  Lenni 
Lenape,  (otherwise  called  the  Delaware  Indians.)  As  the  book 
is  not  mine,  but  left  by  will,  to  be  placed  in  the  Library  at  Beth 
lehem,  I  can  do  no  more  than  send  it  for  perusal ;  or,  if  wished 
for,  to  have  a  copy  taken  from  it,  which,  indeed,  I  myself  would 
cheerfully  have  done  for  you,  were  it  not  that  I  must  spare  my 
weak  eyes  as  much  as  possible. 

I  believe  I  have  closed  my  last  letter  to  you,  without  answer 
ing  to  the  question  you  put  to  me,  respecting,  "wild  animals 
and  the  native*  plants  of  our  country."  On  this  head  I  do  not 
know  that  I  could  be  of  any  service,  since  the  animals  that  were 
in  this  country  on  the  arrival  of  the  Europeans  must  be  pretty 
generally  known  ;  and  respecting  the  native  plants,  I  do  not 
consider  myself  qualified  to  give  any  information,  as  all  I  have 

1  These  papers  have  been  communicated. 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  359 

attended  to,  has  been  to  collect  plants  for  botanists,  leaving  it 
to  them  to  examine  and  class  them.  But  my  friend  Dr.  Kamp- 
man  of  this  place,  who  is,  I  believe,  one  of  the  most  attentive 
gentlemen  to  botany,  has  promised  me  for  you  a  copy  of  the 
botanical  names  of  those  plants  which  he,  and  a  few  others  of 
his  friends,  have  collected,  within  a  great  number  of  years,  in 
the  Forks  of  Delaware,  with  some  few  from  New  Jersey,  to  the 
number  (he  thinks)  of  about  five  hundred ;  all  of  which  plants 
are  in  nature  carefully  laid  up  by  him.  Probably  in  two  or  three 
weeks,  I  shall  have  the  pleasure  of  transmitting  to  you  this  prom 
ised  catalogue.  I  am,  &c. 


LETTER   V. 

FROM    MR.  DUPONCEAU   TO   DR.  WISTAR. 

PHILADELPHIA,  I4th  May,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR. —  When  you  write  to  your  friend  Mr.  Heckewelder, 
I  beg  you  will  request  him  to  answer  the  following  questions : 

1.  What  name  did  the  French  give  to  the  Delaware  nation? 

2.  I  find  in  Zeisberger's  Vocabulary,  page   1 1,  that  Gischuch 
means  the  sun.     In  the  Grammar,  I  see  that  the  Delawares  divide 
their  year  by  moons,  and  call  them  anixi  gischuch,  &c.     So  that 
gischuch  signifies  moon  as  well  as  sun,  how  is  it  ? 

3.  I  find  in  the  Grammar  that  the  pronoun  nekama  or  neka 
means  he,  but  it  does  not  appear  to  have  any  feminine.     What 
is  the  proper  word  for  she  in  the  Delaware,  and  how  is  it  declined  ? 

I  am,  &c. 


LETTER   VI. 

FROM    DR.  WISTAR   TO   MR.  HECKEWELDER. 

PHILADELPHIA,  May  2ist,  1816. 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND.  —  I  am  much  obliged  by  your  kind  letters, 
which  are  very  interesting,  and  will,  I  hope,  obtain  from  1  us 

1  For  "from  "  read  "for" 


360  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

some  of  the  valuable  information  which  has  been  left  unpub 
lished  by  our  ingenious  colleague  the  late  Dr.  Barton.  The 
Grammar  of  your  venerable  friend,  Zeisberger,  is  regarded  by 
Mr.  Duponceau  as  a  treasure.  He  thinks  the  inflections  of  the 
Indian  verbs  so  remarkable  that  they  will  attract  the  general 
attention  of  the  literati.  Inclosed  is  a  letter  from  him,  by 
which  he  expects  to  open  a  correspondence  with  you  on  the 
subject.  I  will  be  much  obliged  by  your  writing  to  him  as 
soon  as  your  convenience  will  permit. 

We  expect  soon  to  have  materials  for  publishing  a  volume  of 
Historical  Documents,  and  I  have  proposed  that  we  shall  prefix 
to  those  which  relate  to  Pennsylvania,  all  the  information  we 
can  collect  respecting  the  Indians  who  were  here  before  our 
ancestors.  The  Committee  agree  that  this  will  be  the  proper 
method,  and  my  dependence  for  authentic  information  is  on 
you ;  as  I  have  never  met  with  any  person  who  had  any  knowl 
edge  to  compare  with  yours,  respecting  the  poor  Indians.  I 
was  delighted  to  find  that  your  enquiries  have  been  directed  to 
the  history  of  the  Lenni  Lenape  before  they  settled  in  Pennsyl 
vania.  The  removal  of  the  Indian  tribes  from  our  country  to 
another  is  a  very  interesting  subject.  If  you  can  tell  us  where 
they  came  from  and  what  forced  them  away;  who  were  here 
before  them,  and  what  induced  their  predecessors  to  make  war 
for  them,  we  shall  be  much  obliged  to  you.  There  is  no  book 
I  shall  read  with  more  pleasure  than  yours. 

The  causes  of  their  downfall,  I  believe,  are  well  known  to  you, 
and  will  of  course  have  a  place.  The  manner  in  which  they 
were  treated  by  the  Six  Nations,  after  their  conquest,  will  be 
an  interesting  article,  as  it  will  shew  the  Indian  policy.  An 
account  of  the  political  rights  which  were  still  allowed  them, 
and,  in  short,  of  everything  which  is  connected  with  their  con 
quest,  will  add  to  the  interest  of  the  work.  As  occupants  of 
Pennsylvania  before  the  whites,  ought  not  the  Shawanese  and 
the  Six  Nations  also  to  be  described  ? 

I  have  been  told  that  the  Shawanese  were  more  refined  than 
any  other  Indians  in  this  part  of  America,  and  that  the  place 
where  Chilicothe  now  stands,  was  the  seat  of  Indian  civilisation. 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  forwarding  to  you  an  instructing  work 
by  Dr.  Drake,  a  physician  at  Cincinnati,  which  he  sends  you. 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES..  361 

He  also  sends  a  small  package  and  a  letter  to  Mr.  Steinhauer. 

I  send  them  by  a  wagon  which  goes  from  Mr.  Boiling's,  but 
I  am  not  without  some  expectation  of  paying  another  visit  to 
Bethlehem  very  soon,  where  it  will  be  a  great  gratification  to 
meet  with  my  friend.  Affectionately  yours, 

CASPAR  WISTAR. 


LETTER  VII. 

MR.  HECKEWELDER   TO   MR.  DUPONCEAU. 

BETHLEHEM,  27th  May,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR.  —  I  was  this  morning  favoured  with  a  letter  from 
my  friend  Dr.  Wistar,  inclosing  some  questions  which  you  wish 
me  to  answer.  I  lose  no  time  in  complying  with  your  desire. 

Your  first  question  is,  "  what  name  the  French  did  give  to  the 
Delaware  nation  ?  " 

I  believe  the  Baron  de  La  Hontan  meant  them  when  he  spoke 
of  the  Algonkins,  whom  he  describes  as  a  people  whose  lan 
guage  was  understood  by  many  nations  or  tribes.  So  is  certainly 
that  of  the  Delawares. 

While  I  was  residing  on  the  Muskingum,  between  the  years 
1773  and  1781,  I  cannot  precisely  remember  the  year,  there 
came  a  French  gentleman  who  was  travelling  on  some  business 
among  the  different  Indian  tribes,  and  could  speak  more  or  less 
of  several  Indian  languages,  among  which  was  that  of  the  Dela 
wares.  I  had  much  conversation  with  him  respecting  the  In 
dians,  and  observed  that  he  called  the  Delawares  les  Lenopes,  (a 
word  evidently  derived  from  their  real  name  Lenni  Lenape^)  He 
told  me  that  the  language  of  that  nation  had  a  wide  range,  and 
that  by  the  help  of  it,  he  had  travelled  more  than  a  thousand 
miles  among  different  Indian  nations,  by  all  of  whom  he  was 
understood.  He  added,  that  the  Baron  La  Hontan,  when  speak 
ing  of  the  Algonkins,  must  either  have  alluded  to  that  nation,  or 
to  some  one  descended  from  them.  In  other  instances,  in  the 
course  of  the  four  years  that  I  resided  in  Upper  Canada,  I  gen 
erally  heard  the  French  Canadians  call  them  Lenope,  while  the 


362  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

English  called  them  Delawares.  Nevertheless,  I  do  not  doubt 
but  that  they  have  been  called  by  different  names  by  the  French 
and  other  travellers,  and  if  my  memory  serves  me,  some  of  the 
French  people  called  them  les  Loupsy  a  name  probably  derived 
from  one  of  their  tribes  called  the  Wolf,  if  it  is  not  a  corruption 
of  Lenape  or  Lenope. 

Your  next  question  is,  "  whether  the  Delaware  word  gischttch, 
signifies  the  sun  or  moon,  or  both  together  ?  "  The  Indian  name 
"  gischuch"  is  common  to  "  the  two  great  luminaries  which  send 
down  light  from  above."  The  moon  is  called  "  nipawi  gischuch" 
as  it  were  "  the  sun  which  gives  light  in  the  night."  It  is  also 
called  in  one  word  "  nipahum"  "  Gischuch"  singly,  is  often  used 
for  the  moon  ;  the  Indian  year  is  divided  into  thirteen  lunar 
months,  and  in  this  sense,  the  word  "gischuch"  is  used;  as  for 
instance,  "  schawandki1  gischuch"  or,  in  the  Minsi  or  Monsey 
dialect,  "  chwani2  gischuch"  the  shad  moon,  answering  to  the 
month  which  we  call  March,  at  which  time  the  fish  called  "  shad  " 
passes  from  the  sea  into  the  fresh  water  rivers.  The  inferior 
"  stars  "  have  a  different  name ;  they  are  called  in  the  singular 
alank  ;  plural,  alankewak,  and  by  contraction,  alanqnak. 

Lastly,  you  ask  whether  the  Delawares  have  a  word  answer 
ing  to  the  English  personal  pronoun  "  she"  and  what  it  is  ?  I 
beg  leave  to  answer  you  somewhat  in  detail. 

In  the  Indian  languages,  those  discriminating  words  or  inflec 
tions  which  we  call  genders,  are  not,  as  with  us,  in  general,  in 
tended  to  distinguish  between  male  and  female  beings,  but  be 
tween  animate  and  inanimate  things  or  substances.  Trees  and 
plants  (annual  plants  and  grasses  excepted)  are  included  within 
the  generic  class  of  animated  beings.  Hence  the  personal  pro 
noun  has  only  two  modes,  if  I  can  so  express  myself,  one  ap 
plicable  to  the  animate,  and  the  other  to  the  inanimate  gender; 
"  nekama  "  is  the  personal  pronominal  form  which  answers  to 
"  he  "  and  "  she  "  in  English.  If  you  wish  to  distinguish  between 
the  sexes,  you  must  add  to  it  the  word  "  man  "  or  "  woman." 
Thus  "  nekama  lenno"  means  "  he "  or  "this  man;"  "nekama 

1  For  " scha -wandki "  read  "schwanameki" 
'2  For  "  chivani"  read  "  chwami." 


THE    INDIAN     LANGUAGES.  363 

ochqueu"  "  she  "  or  "  this  woman"  This  may  appear  strange  to 
a  person  exclusively  accustomed  to  our  forms  of  speech,  but  I 
assure  you  that  the  Indians  have  no  difficulty  in  understanding 
each  other. 

Nor  must  you  imagine  that  their  languages  are  poor.  See 
how  the  Delaware  idiom  discriminates  between  the  different  ages 
of  man  and  woman  ! 

LENNO,  a  man. 

Wuskilenno,  a  young  man. 

Pilapeu,  a  lad. 

Pilawesis,  or  pilawetzitsch,  a  boy. 

Pilawetit,  a  male  infant  babe. 

Kigeyilenno,  an  aged  man. 

Mihilusis,  an  old  man,  worn  out  with  age. 

OCHQUEU,  a  woman. 

Wusdochqueu,  a  young  woman,  a  virgin. 

Ochquetschitsch,  a  girl. 

Quetit,  a  female  infant  babe. 

Gichtochqueu,  an  aged  woman. 

Chauchschisis,  a  very  old  woman. 

Note  " len"  or  "  lenno"  in  the  male,  and  "  que"  or  "  queu"  in 
the  female,  distinguish  the  sexes  in  compound  words;  some 
times  the  L  alone  denotes  the  male  sex,  as  in  "pi/apeu,"  "  mihi- 
/usis,"  &c. 

The  males  of  quadrupeds  are  called  " lenno  weclium"  and  by 
contraction  "  lennochum ;  "  the  females  "Ochque  wechum"  and  by 
contraction  "  ochquechum"  which  is  the  same  as  saying  he  or 
she  beasts.  With  the  winged  tribe,  their  generic  denomination 
"wehelle"  is  added  to  the  word  which  expresses  the  sex;  thus, 
"  lenno  wehelle  "  for  the  male,  and  "  ochquechelle "  (with  a  little 
contraction)  for  the  female.  There  are  some  animals  the  females 
of  which  have  a  particular  distinguishing  name,  as  "  Nunschetto  " 
a  doe,  "  Nunscheach  "  a  she  bear.  This,  however,  is  not  common. 

Thus  I  have  endeavoured  to  answer  your  questions,  and  I 
hope,  have  done  it  to  your  satisfaction.  I  shall  always  be  will 
ing  and  ready  to  give  you  any  further  information  that  you  or 
the  Philosophical  Society  may  require ;  I  mean,  always  to  the 
best  of  my  knowledge  and  abilities.  I  am,  &c. 


364  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

LETTER   VIII. 

MR.  DUPONCEAU  TO  MR.  HECKEWELDER. 

PHILADELPHIA,  loth  June,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR.  —  Your  favour  of  the  2/th  ult.  has  done  me  the 
greatest  pleasure.  I  am  very  thankful  for  the  goodness  you  have 
had  to  answer  the  questions  which  I  took  the  liberty  of  putting 
to  you  through  our  common  friend  Dr.  Wistar.  I  shall  not  fail 
to  avail  myself  of  your  kind  offer  to  answer  such  further  ques 
tions  as  I  may  ask,  as  in  so  doing  I  shall  fulfil  a  duty  which  the 
Historical  Committee  of  the  Philosophical  Society  has  imposed 
upon  me,  and  at  the  same  time  I  am  satisfied  that  I  shall  derive 
a  great  deal  of  pleasure  to  myself.  But  I  must  acknowledge  that 
I  am  entirely  ignorant  of  the  subject  on  which  I  have  been 
directed  to  obtain  information  from  you,  so  much  so  that  I  am 
even  at  a  loss  what  questions  to  ask.  As  I  have,  however,  un 
dertaken  the  task,  I  must  endeavour  to  go  through  it  as  well  as 
I  can,  and  rely  on  the  instruction  which  I  shall  receive  from 
your  letters,  to  point  out  to  me  further  enquiries.  I  am  for 
tunately  employed  in  translating  the  late  Mr.  Zeisberger's  Gram 
mar  of  the  Lenni  Lenape,  which  will  lead  me  a  little  into  the 
right  path,  and  I  read  at  the  same  time  such  books  as  I  can  find 
in  our  scanty  libraries  respecting  the  languages  of  the  American 
Indians.  This  study  pleases  me  much,  as  I  think  I  perceive 
many  beauties  in  those  idioms,  but  the  true  enjoyment  of  those 
beauties  is,  I  presume,  only  accessible  to  those  to  whom  the 
languages  are  familiar. 

From  what  I  have  above  stated,  you  will  easily  perceive  that 
my  questions  to  you  must  necessarily  be  desultory,  and  without 
any  regular  order  or  method.  But  you  will  diffuse  light  through 
this  chaos,  and  every  thing  at  last  will  find  its  proper  place. 

I  cannot  express  to  you  how  delighted  I  am  with  the  gram 
matical  forms  of  the  Indian  languages,  particularly  of  the  Dela 
ware,  as  explained  by  Mr.  Zeisberger.  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
that  those  forms  are  peculiar  to  this  part  of  the  world,  and  that 
they  do  not  exist  in  the  languages  of  the  old  hemisphere.  At 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  365 

least,  I  am  confident  that  their  development  will  contribute  much 
to  the  improvement  of  the  science  of  universal  grammar.  About 
fifty  years  ago,  two  eminent  French  philosophers  published  each 
a  short  treatise  on  the  origin  of  language.  One  of  them  was 
the  celebrated  mathematician  Maupertuis,  and  the  other  M. 
Turgot,  who  afterwards  was  made  a  minister  of  state,  and  ac 
quired  considerable  reputation  by  his  endeavours  to  introduce 
reform  into  the  administration  of  the  government  of  his  own 
country.  M.  Maupertuis,  in  his  Essay,  took  great  pains  to  shew 
the  necessity  of  studying  the  languages  even  of  the  most  distant 
and  barbarous  nations,  "  because,"  said  he,  "  we  may  chance  to 
find  some  that  are  formed  on  new  plans  of  ideas''  M.  Turgot, 
instead  of  acknowledging  the  justness  of  this  profound  remark, 
affected  to  turn  it  into  ridicule,  and  said  he  could  not  understand 
what  was  meant  by  "plans  of  ideas''  If  he  had  been  acquainted 
with  the  Delaware  language,  he  would  have  been  at  no  loss  to 
comprehend  it. 

I  presume  that  by  this  expression  M.  Maupertuis  meant  the 
various  modes  in  which  ideas  are  combined  and  associated 
together  in  the  form  of  words  and  sentences,  and  in  this  sense 
it  is  to  me  perfectly  intelligible.  The  associations  expressed  by 
words  must  be  first  formed  in  the  mind,  and  the  words  shew  in 
what  order  of  succession  the  ideas  were  conceived,  and  in  what 
various  groups  they  arranged  themselves  before  utterance  was 
given  to  them.  The  variety  of  those  groups  which  exist  in  the 
different  languages  forms  what  M.  Maupertuis  meant  by  "  plans 
of  ideas,"  and  indeed,  this  variety  exists  even  in  one  and  the  same 
language.  Thus  when  we  say,  "  lover,"  and  "  he  who  loves," 
the  same  group  of  ideas  is  differently  combined,  and  of  course, 
differently  expressed,  and  it  may  well  be  said  that  those  ideas 
are  arranged  "  on  different  plans." 

This  difference  is  strongly  exemplified  in  the  Delaware  lan 
guage  ;  I  shall  only  speak  at  present  of  what  we  call  the  "  de 
clension  of  nouns."  What  in  our  European  idioms  we  call  the 
"  objective  cases"  are  one  or  more  words  expressive  of  two  prom 
inent  ideas,  that  of  the  object  spoken  of,  and  that  of  the  manner 
in  which  it  is  affected  by  some  other  object  or  action  operating 
upon  it.  This  is  done  in  two  ways ;  by  inflecting  the  substan- 


366  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

tive,  or  by  affixing  to  it  one  or  more  of  those  auxiliary  words 
which  we  call  "  prepositions."  Thus  when  we  say  in  English 
"  of  Peter"  and  in  German  " Peters"  the  same  two  principal 
ideas  are  expressed  in  the  former  language  by  two  words  and 
in  the  latter  by  one,  and  the  termination  or  inflexion  s  in  Ger 
man  conveys  the  same  meaning  as  the  preposition  "  of"  in  Eng 
lish.  It  is  clear  that  these  two  ideas,  before  they  were  uttered 
in  the  form  of  words,  were  grouped  in  the  minds  both  of  the 
German  and  the  Englishman ;  in  the  one,  as  it  were  at  once,  and 
in  the  other  successively :  for  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  they 
were  conceived  as  they  are  expressed.  Again,  when  you  say  in 
Latin  amo  Petrum,  (I  love  Peter,)  the  termination  inn  is  expres 
sive  of  the  action  of  the  verb  love,  upon  the  object,  Peter.  In 
the  English  and  German  this  accessory  idea  is  not  expressed  by 
sound,  but  still  it  exists  in  the  mind.  In  every  language  there 
are  more  ideas,  perhaps,  understood,  than  are  actually  expressed. 
This  might  be  easily  demonstrated,  if  it  were  here  the  place. 

Let  us  now  consider  how  the  same  ideas  are  combined  and 
expressed  in  the  Delaware  language,  according  to  Mr.  Zeisber- 
ger.  When  the  accessory  idea  which  we  call  "case"  proceeds 
from  the  operation  of  a  verb  upon  a  noun  or  word  significant  of 
an  object,  that  idea  is  not  affixed  as  with  us  to  the  noun  but  to 
the  verb,  or  in  other  words,  it  is  not  the  noun  but  the  verb  that  is 
declined  by  inflexions  or  cases.  Thus  when  you  say  "getannito- 
wit  riquitayala,  I  fear  God  ;  "  the  first  word,  getannitowit,  which 
is  the  substantive,  is  expressed,  as  we  should  say,  in  the  nomina 
tive  case,  while  the  termination  of  the  verb  yala,  expresses  its 
application  to  the  object.  It  is  precisely  the  same  as  if  in  Latin, 
instead  of  saying,  Petrum  amo,  I  love  Peter,  we  carried  the  termi 
nation  um  to  the  verb,  and  said  Petrus  amiim.  Does  not  this 
shew  that  many  various  combinations  of  ideas  may  take  place 
in  the  human  mind,  of  which  we,  Europeans  by  birth  or  descent^ 
have  not  yet  formed  a  conception  ?  Does  this  not  bid  defiance 
to  our  rules  or  canons  of  universal  grammar,  and  may  we  not 
say  with  M.  Maupertuis,  that  in  extending  our  study  of  the  lan 
guages  of  man,  we  shall  probably  find  some  formed  upon  "plans 
of  ideas  "  different  from  our  own  ? 

But  I  perceive  that  instead  of  asking  you  questions,  as  it  is  my 


THE     INDIAN     LANGUAGES.  367 

duty  to  do,  I  am  losing  myself  in  metaphysical  disquisitions ;  I 
return,  then,  to  my  principal  object.  A  very  interesting  German 
book  has  lately  fallen  into  my  hands.  It  is  entitled  "  Untersuch- 
ungen  ueber  Amerikas  Bevcelkerung  aus  dem  alien  Kontincntc"  J  and 
it  is  written  by  Professor  Vater,  of  Leipzig.  The  author,  after 
justly  observing  that  the  language  of  the  Delawares  is  exceed 
ingly  rich  in  grammatical  forms,  and  making  the  same  observa 
tion  on  that  of  the  Naticks,  from  the  venerable  Eliot's  transla 
tion  of  the  Bible  into  that  idiom,  says  that,  on  the  contrary,  that 
of  the  Chippeways  is  very  poor  in  that  respect.  "  Die  CJiippe- 
w&er"  he  says,  "  Jiabcn  fast  keine  formen"2  This  appears  to  me 
very  strange,  because  on  examining  the  various  Indian  lan 
guages  from  Nova  Scotia  to  Chili,  I  have  been  surprised  to  find 
that  they  appear  all  formed  on  the  same  model,  and  if  Professor 
Vater  is  correct,  the  Chippeway  dialect  will  form  an  exception. 
I  beg,  therefore,  you  will  inform  me  whether  there  is  such  a 
great  difference  as  he  states  between  that  and  the  Delaware.  I 
am  much  inclined  to  think  that  the  learned  Professor  is  mistaken. 
I  must  take  this  opportunity,  however,  to  express  my  astonish 
ment  at  the  great  knowledge  which  the  literati  of  Germany 
appear  to  possess  of  America,  and  of  the  customs,  manners  and 
languages  of  its  original  inhabitants.  Strange !  that  we  should 
have  to  go  to  the  German  universities  to  become  acquainted 
with  our  own  country. 

Another  German  Professor,  of  the  name  of  Rudiger,  has  com 
piled  an  interesting  work,  in  which  he  gives  specimens  of  all 
the  languages  in  the  world,  as  far  as  they  are  known,  and  among 
them  does  not  forget  those  of  the  Indian  nations  of  America. 
He  gives  the  numerals  of  the  Delaware  language,  from  a  vocab 
ulary  of  that  idiom,  printed  at  Stockholm,  in  1696,  and  made 
while  the  Swedes  were  in  possession  of  that  part  of  this  country 
which  they  principally  inhabited.  I  find  a  considerable  difference 
between  those  numerals  and  these  given  by  Zeisberger.  That 
you  may  see  in  what  it  consists,  I  insert  them  both. 

1  An  Enquiry  into  the  Question,  whether  America  was  peopled  from  the  Old  Con 
tinent  ? 

2  The  Chippeways  have  hardly  any  grammatical  forms. 


368  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

DELAWARE    NUMERALS. 

According  to  the  Swedish  Vocabulary.  According  to  Zeisberger. 

1.  Ciutte.  I.  Ngutti. 

2.  Nissa.  2.  Nischa. 

3.  Naha.  3.  Nacha. 

4.  Nawo.  4.  Newo. 

5.  Pareenach.  5.  Palenach. 

6.  Ciuttas.  6.  Guttasch. 

7.  Nissas.  7.  Nischasch. 

8.  Haas.  8.  Chasch. 

9.  Paeschun.  9.  Peschkonk. 
10.  Thaeraen.  10.  Tellen. 

20.  Nissinacke.  20.  Nishinachke. 

100.  Ciutabpach.  100.  Nguttapachki. 

Now,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  two  sets  of  numerals 
belong  to  the  same  language,  but  I  am  astonished  at  seeing  the 
same  words  written  so  differently  by  a  Swede  and  a  German, 
when  there  is  so  little  difference  in  the  powers  of  the  alphabeti 
cal  signs  of  their  languages.  I  am  particularly  struck  with  some 
words  that  are  written  with  R  by  the  Swede  and  with  L  by  the 
German  author.  In  all  Zeisberger's  Grammar  I  have  not  been 
able  to  find  the  letter  R  in  one  single  Delaware  word,  neither  is 
it  to  be  found  in  any  of  the  words  of  his  Delaware  spelling  book. 
No  doubt  you  can  inform  me  of  the  reason  of  this  difference. 

A  greater  one  is  still  to  be  found  in  the  Algonkin  numerals 
given  by  the  Baron  La  Hontan,  and  those  of  the  Delaware 
proper.  I  place  them  here  again  in  opposition  to  each  other. 

Algonkin  numerals  from  La  Hontan.  Delaware  numerals  from  Zeisberger. 

1.  Pegik.  i.  Ngutti. 

2.  Ninch.  2.  Nischa. 

3.  Nissoue.  3.  Nacha. 

4.  Neou.  4.  Newo. 

5.  Narau.  5.  Palenach. 

6.  Ningoutouassou.  6.  Guttasch. 

7.  Ninchouassou.  7.  Nischasch. 

8.  Nissouassou.  8.  Chasch. 

9.  Changassou.  9.  Peschkonk. 
10.  Mitassou.  IO.  Tellen. 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  369 

There  is  certainly  a  family  resemblance  between  some  of 
these  words,  while  in  others  no  kind  of  similarity  can  be  traced. 
As  you  believe  that  the  Delawares  and  the  Algonkins  are  the 
same  people,  I  beg  you  will  be  so  good  as  to  point  out  to  me 
the  cause  of  the  difference  which  I  have  observed.  I  am,  &c. 


LETTER   IX. 

FROM  THE  SAME  TO  THE  SAME. 

PHILADELPHIA,  1 3th  June,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR. —  I  take  the  liberty  of  submitting  to  you  a  few 
questions,  which  have  occurred  to  me  in  perusing  Mr.  Zeisber- 
ger's  Grammar.  I  beg  you  will  be  so  good  as  to  answer  them 
at  your  leisure.  I  am,  &c. 

QUERIES. 

1.  In  Mr.  Zeisberger's  Grammar,  double  consonants  are  fre 
quently  used,  as  in  Pommaucksin,  Lenno,  Lenni  Lenape. 

QU^RE  :  Are  the  two  consonants  fully  and  distinctly  sounded, 
thus:  pom-m-auchsin — Len-n-o,  as  in  the  Italian  language,  or  is 
only  one  of  the  consonants  heard,  as  if  it  were  thus  written : 
pomauchsin,  leno.  In  this  latter  case  what  is  the  reason  for  using 
two  consonants,  if  only  one  is  sounded  ? 

2.  Mr.  Zeisberger  frequently  puts  a  comma  or  apostrophe  (') 
before  or  after  the  letter  N  in  the  present  of  the  indicative  verbs, 
'npommauchsi)   and    sometimes   n'pommauchsi.      Sometimes    he 
writes    the   word   without :    ndappiwi,   ndappiwitsch ;    what    is 
the   reason   of  this  variation  ?     Is  there    any  necessity  for  the 
comma  before  or  after  the  TV^in  the  first  person,  or  after  the  K 
and  W,  in  the  second  and  third  ?     Is  it  not  best  to  simplify  as 
much  as  possible  the  orthography  of  such  a  difficult  language  ? 

3.  What  is  the    difference  in  pronunciation   between  ke  and 
que ;    say,  pomauchsijenke   and  pomauchsijeque  ?     Is    the    latter 
sounded  like  cue  or  kite,  or  is  it  sounded  as  ke  ? 

4.  The  conjunctive  mood  is  expressed  in  German  by  "  wenn  ;  " 

24 


3/O  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

does  it  mean  in  English  "if"  or  "  ivhen"  ?  Does  "ripomauch- 
sijane"  mean  "when  I  live"  or  "if  I  live,"  or  both?  I  find  it 
sometimes  expressed  "  wenn"  oder  "  da"  oder  "  als"  which 
inclines  me  to  think  it  signifies  both  "  when  "  and  "  if" 

5.  I  find  some  terminations  in  the  tenses  of  the  verbs,  some 
times  written  "  cup"  sometimes  "  kup"  and  sometimes  " gup  ;" 
thus  epiacup,  "where  I  was,"  elsijakup,   "when  or  if  I  was  so 
situated  ;  "  and  pommauchsijengup,  "  if  or  when  we  have  lived." 
Are  these  different  sounds,  or  does  this  difference    in  writing 
arise    from    the    Germans    being   accustomed  to    confound  the 
sounds  of  K  and  G  hard  ? 

6.  I    find   some   words   written    sometimes   with  one  /  and 
sometimes  with  two ;    thus  elsia,  and  elsija.     Are  the    two   z's 
separately  articulated,  or  do  they  sound  only  as  one  ? 

7.  I  find  the  second  person  of  the  singular  in  verbs  sometimes 
written  with  a  Kt  sometimes  with  a  G,  thus  kneichgussi,  du  wirst 
gesehen  (thou  art  seen) ;  kdaantschi,  du  wirst  gehen  (thou  wilt 
go) ;  gemilgussi,  dir  wird  gegeben  (it  is  given  to  thee).     Why  is 
it  not  written  kemilgussif  see  query  5.  I  find  sometimes  a  double 
aa  —  Is  it  merely  to  express  length  of  quantity,  or  are  the  two 
rt's  sounded  distinctly  ? 

8.  What  is  the  difference  in  sound  between  ch  and  hh,  do  they 
both  represent  the  same  guttural  sound  like  ch  in  German  ?     If 
so,  why  express  this  sound  in  two  different  ways ;  if  otherwise, 
what  is  the  real  difference  between  the  two  sounds  ? 

EXAMPLES. 

A^pil,  bleibe  du  (remain  thou) ;  sur^pk^tique,  wenn  sie  nicht 
da  sind  (if  they  are  not  there) ;  nda/j/zenap,  wir  waren  gegangen 
(we  had  gone) ;  kda/z//imo,  ihr  gehet  (you  go).  I  am,  &c. 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES. 

LETTER   X. 

MR.  HECKEWELDER  TO  MR.  DUPONCEAU. 

BETHLEHEM,  2oth  June,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR. — Your  favors  of  the  loth  and  I3th  inst.  have  been 
duly  received.  I  shall  now  endeavour  to  answer  the  first.  The 
second  shall  in  a  few  days  be  attended  to. 

I  am  glad  to  find  that  you  are  so  much  pleased  with  the  forms 
of  our  Indian  languages.  You  will  be  still  more  so  as  you  be 
come  more  familiar  with  the  beautiful  idiom  of  the  Lenni  Lenape. 
It  is  certain  that  many  of  those  forms  are  not  to  be  found  either 
in  the  German  or  English ;  how  it  is  with  the  other  languages 
of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa,  I  cannot  say,  not  being  acquainted 
with  them,  and  never  having  made  philology  my  particular 
study.  I  concur  with  you  in  the  opinion  that  there  must  be  in 
the  world  many  different  ways  of  connecting  ideas  together  in 
the  form  of  words,  or  what  we  call  parts  of  speech,  and  that  much 
philosophical  information  is  to  be  obtained  by  the  study  of  those 
varieties.  What  you  observe  with  regard  to  the  verbs  being 
inflected  in  lieu  of  affixing  a  case  or  termination  to  the  noun  is 
very  correct,  but  the  ground  or  principle  on  which  it  is  done,  is 
not  perhaps  known  to  you.  The  verbs  in  the  Indian  languages 
are  susceptible  of  a  variety  of  forms,  which  are  not  to  be  found 
in  any  other  language  that  I  know.  I  do  not  mean  to  speak 
here  of  the  positive,  negative,  causative,  and  a  variety  of  other 
forms,  but  of  those  which  Mr.  Zeisberger  calls  personal,  in  which 
the  two  pronouns,  governing  and  governed,  are  by  means  of 
affixes,  suffixes,  terminations,  and  inflections,  included  in  the 
same  word.  Of  this  I  shall  give  you  an  instance  from  the  Dela 
ware  language.  I  take  the  verb  ahoalan,  to  love,  belonging  to 
the  fifth  of  the  eight  conjugations,  into  which  Mr.  Zeisberger  has 
very  properly  divided  this  part  of  speech. 


3/2  CORRESPONDENCE  RESPECTING 

INDICATIVE,  PRESENT,    POSITIVE. 
Singular.  Plural. 

N'dahoala,  I  love,  n'dahoalaneen,  we  love, 

k'dahoala,  thou  —  k'dahoalohhimo,  you  — 

w'dahoala,  I    . 

\  he —  ahoalewak,  they  — 

or  anoaieu  J 

Now  for  the  personal  forms  in  the  same  tense. 

FIRST   PERSONAL   FORM. 
I. 

Singular.  Plural. 

K'dahoatell,  /  love  thee,  .  K'dahoalohhumo,  /  love  you, 

n'dahoala,  I  love  him  or  her.  n'dahoalawak, —  them. 

SECOND    PERSONAL   FORM. 

THOU. 

Singular.  Plural. 

K'dahoali,  tkou  lovest  me,  k'dahoalineen,  thou  lovest  us, 

k'dahoala, —  him  or  her.  k'dahoalawak, —  them. 

THIRD    PERSONAL    FORM. 

HE,  (or  SHE.) 

Singular.  Plural. 

N'dahoaluk,  he  loves  me,  w'dahoalguna,  he  loves  us, 

k'dahoaluk, —  thee,  w'dahoalguwa, — you, 

w'dahoalawall  —  him.  w'dahoalawak, —  them. 

FOURTH    PERSONAL    FORM. 
WE. 

Singular.  Plural. 

K'dahoalenneen,  we  love  thee,  k'dahoalohummena,  we  love  y 

n'dahoalawuna, —  him.  n'dahoalowawuna,—  them. 

FIFTH    PERSONAL    FORM. 

YOU. 

Singular.  Plural. 

K'dahoalihhimo,  you  love  me,  k'da!ioalihhena,jj/0»  love  us. 

k'dahoalanewo, —  him.  k'dahoalawawak, —  them. 

SIXTH    PERSONAL   FORM. 

THEY. 

Singular.  Plural. 

N'dahoalgenewo,  they  love  me,  n'dahoalgehhena,  they  love  us. 

k'dahoalgenewo,—  thee,  k'dahoalgehhimo,— you. 

w'dahoalanewo,—  him.  w'dahoalawawak,—  them. 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  3/3 

In  this  manner  verbs  are  conjugated  through  all  their  moods 
and  tenses,  and  through  all  their  negative,  causative,  and  various 
other  forms,  with  fewer  irregularities  than  any  other  language 
that  I  know  of. 

These  conjugations,  no  doubt,  you  have  found,  or  will  find  in 
Mr.  Zeisberger's  grammar,  but  the  few  examples  that  I  have 
above  put  together,  are  necessary  to  understand  the  explanation 
which  I  am  about  to  give. 

The  words  you  quote  are:  "  getannitowit  riquitayala"  I  fear 
God,  or  rather,  according  to  the  Indian  inversion,  God  I  fear. 
Your  observation  is  that  the  inflection  or  case  of  the  noun  sub 
stantive  God,  is  carried  to  the  verb.  This  is  true ;  but  if  you 
enquire  for  the  reason  or  the  manner  in  which  it  takes  place, 
you  will  find  that  ala  is  the  inflection  of  the  second  or  last  per 
son  of  the  verb,  in  the  first  personal  form  ;  thus  as  you  have 
seen  that  n'dahoala  means  I  love  him,  so  riquitayala,  in  the  same 
form  and  person  means  I  fear  him  ;  it  is  therefore  the  same  as 
if  you  said  God  I  fear  him.  This  is  not  meant  in  the  least  to 
doubt  or  dispute  the  correctness  of  your  position,  but  to  shew  in 
what  manner  the  combination  of  ideas  is  formed  that  has  led  to 
this  result.  You  have  now,  I  believe,  a  wider  field  for  your 
metaphysical  disquisitions. 

I  pass  on  to  the  other  parts  of  your  letter.  I  believe  with 
you  that  Professor  Vater  is  mistaken  in  his  assertion  that  the 
language  of  the  Chippeways  is  deficient  in  grammatical  forms. 
I  am  not  skilled  in  the  Chippeway  idiom,  but  while  in  Upper 
Canada,  I  have  often  met  with  French  Canadians  and  English 
traders  who  understood  and  spoke  it  very  well.  I  endeavoured 
to  obtain  information  from  them  respecting  that  language,  and 
found  that  it  much  resembled  that  of  the  Lenape.  The  differ 
ences  that  I  observed  were  little  more  than  some  variations  in 
sound,  as  b  for  p,  and  i  for  u.  Thus,  in  the  Delaware,  wapacJi- 
quiwan  means  a  blanket,  in  the  Chippeway  it  is  wabewian;' 
gischuch  is  Delaware  for  a  star,  the  Chippeways  say  gischis ; 
•wape  in  Delaware  white ;  in  the  Chippeway,  wabe.  Both  nations 
have  the  word  Mannitto  for  God,  or  the  Great  Spirit,  a  word 
which  is  common  to  all  the  nations  and  tribes  of  the  Lenape 
stock. 


374  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Chippeways,  like  the  Mahicanni, 
Naticks,  Wampanos,  Nanticokes,  and  many  other  nations,  are  a 
branch  of  the  great  family  of  the  Lenni  Lenape,  therefore  I  can 
not  believe  that  there  is  so  great  a  difference  in  the  forms  of 
their  languages  from  those  of  the  mother  tongue.  I  shall,  how 
ever,  write  on  the  subject  to  one  of  our  Missionaries  who  resides 
in  Canada,  and  speaks  the  Chippeway  idiom,  and  doubt  not  .that 
in  a  short  time  I  shall  receive  from  him  a  full  and  satisfactory 
answer. 

On  the  subject  of  the  numerals,  I  have  had  occasion  to  ob 
serve  that  they  sometimes  differ  very  much  in  languages  derived 
from  the  same  stock.  Even  the  Minsi,  a  tribe  of  the  Lenape  or 
Delaware  nation,  have  not  all  their  numerals  like  those  of  the 
Unami  tribe,  which  is  the  principal  among  them.  I  shall  give 
you  an  opportunity  of  comparing  them. 

Numerals  of  the  Minsi.  Numerals  of  the  Unami. 

1.  Gutti.  I.  N'gutti. 

2.  Nischa.  2.  Nischa. 

3.  Nacha  3.  Nacha. 

4.  Newa.  4.  Newo. 

5.  Nalan,  (algonk.  narau.)  5.  Palenach. 

6.  Guttasch.  6.  Guttasch. 

7.  Nischoasch,  (algonk.  nissouassou.)  7.  Nischasch. 

8.  Chaasch.  8.  Chasch. 

9.  Nolewi.  9.  Peschkonk. 
10.  Wimbat.  10.  Tellen. 

You  will  easily  observe  that  the  numbers  five  and  ten  in  the 
Minsi  dialect,  resemble  more  the  Algonkin,  as  given  by  La 
Hontan,  than  the  pure  Delaware.  I  cannot  give  you  the  reason 
of  this  difference.  To  this  you  will  add  the  numerous  errors 
committed  by  those  who  attempt  to  write  down  the  words  of 
the  Indian  languages,  and  who  either  in  their  own  have  not 
alphabetical  signs  adequate  to  the  true  expression  of  the  sounds, 
or  want  an  Indian  ear  to  distinguish  them.  I  could  write  a 
volume  on  the  subject  of  their  ridiculous  mistakes.  I  am,  &c. 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  375 

LETTER  XL 

FROM  MR.  HECKEWELDER. 

BETHLEHEM,  24th  June,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR. —  I  now  proceed  to  answer  the  several  queries  con 
tained  in  your  letter  of  the  I3th  inst. 

1.  The  double  consonants  are  used  in  writing  the  words  of 
the  Delaware  language,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  indicating  that 
the  vowel  which  immediately  precedes  them  is  short,  as  in  the 
German  words  immer,  nimmer,  schimmer,  and  the  English  felloiv, 
terrible,  ill,  butter,  &c.     The  consonant  is  not  to  be  articulated 
twice. 

2.  The  apostrophe  which  sometimes  follows  the  letters  n  and 
k,  is  intended  to  denote  the  contraction  of  a  vowel,  as  ripom- 
mauchsi,  for  ni  pommauchsi,  n'dappiwi,  for  ni  dappiivi,  &c.     If 
Mr.  Zeisberger  has  placed  the  apostrophe  in  any  case  before  the 
consonant,  he  must  have  done  it  through  mistake. 

3.  There  is  a  difference  in  pronunciation  between  ke  and  que ; 
the  latter  is  pronounced  like  kue  or  kwe.     In  a  verb,  the  ter 
mination  ke  indicates  the  first  person  of  the  plural,  and  qne  the 
second. 

4.  The  word  wenn,  employed  in  the  German  translation  of  the 
tenses  of  the  conjunctive  mood  of  the  Delaware  verbs,  means 
both  when,  and  if,  and  is  taken  in  either  sense  according  to  the 
content  of  the  phrase  in  which  the  word  is  used.     Examples  : 
Hi gachtingetscJi pommaitchsiane,  "!F  I  live  until  the  next  year" — 
Payane  Philadelphia,  "  WHEN  I  come  to  Philadelphia." 

5.  Sometimes    the   letters  c  or  g,  are    used    in  writing   the 
Delaware  language  instead  of  k,  to  shew  that  this  consonant  is 
not  pronounced  too  hard ;  but  in  general  c  and  g  have  been  used 
as  substitutes  for  k,  because  our  printers  had  not  a  sufficient 
supply  of  types  for  that  character. 

6.  Where  words  are  written  with  ij,  both  the  letters  are  to  be 
articulated ;  the  latter  like  the  English  y  before  a  vowel.     For 
this  reason  in  writing  Delaware  words  I  often  employ  the  y  in 
stead  of  y,  which  Mr.  Zeisberger  and  the  German  Missionaries 


3/6  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

always  make  use  of.     Thus  Elsija  is  to  be  pronounced  like  El- 
siya. 

7.  Answered  in  part  above,  No.  5.     The  double  vowels  are 
merely  intended  to  express  length  of  sound,  as  in  the  German. 

8.  C/i,  answers  to  the  X  of  the  Greeks,  and  ch  of  the  Germans. 
Hh,  like  all  other  duplicated  consonants,  indicates  only  the  short 
sound  of  the  preceding  vowels.  I  am,  &c. 


LETTER   XII. 

TO   MR.  HECKEWELDER. 

PHILADELPHIA,  i3th  July,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR.  —  I  have  received  your  kind  letters  of  the  2Oth  and 
24th  ult.  It  is  impossible  to  be  more  clear,  precise,  and  accu 
rate,  than  you  are  in  your  answers  to  my  various  questions. 
The  information  which  your  letters  contain  is  of  the  highest 
interest  to  me,  and  I  doubt  not  will  prove  so  to  the  Committee, 
by  whose  orders  I  have  engaged  in  this  Correspondence,  on  a 
subject  entirely  new  to  me,  but  with  which  I  hope  in  time  and 
with  your  able  assistance,  to  become  better  acquainted. 

M.  de  Volney  has  said  somewhere  in  his  excellent  Descriptive 
View  of  the  United  States,  that  it  were  to  be  wished  that  five  or 
six  eminent  linguists  should  be  constantly  employed  at  the  pub 
lic  expense  to  compile  Indian  Grammars  and  Dictionaries.  I 
cannot  suppose  that  the  Count  meant  literally  what  he  said,  as 
he  must  have  been  sensible  of  the  difficulties  attending  on  the 
execution  of  such  a  plan,  but  at  any  rate,  here  is  a  noble  display 
of  enthusiasm  for  our  favourite  science,  and  a  sufficient  encour 
agement  for  us  to  pursue  our  philological  enquiries.  Alas  !  if 
the  beauties  of  the  Lenni  Lenape  language  were  found  in  the 
ancient  Coptic,  or  in  some  ante-diluvian  Babylonish  dialect,  how 
would  the  learned  of  Europe  be  at  work  to  display  them  in  a 
variety  of  shapes  and  raise  a  thousand  fanciful  theories  on  that 
foundation  !  What  superior  wisdom,  talents  and  knowledge 
would  they  not  ascribe  to  nations  whose  idioms  were  formed 
with  so  much  skill  and  method !  But  who  cares  for  the  poor 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  377 

American  Indians  ?  They  are  savages  and  barbarians  and  live 
in  the  woods ;  must  not  their  languages  be  savage  and  barbarous 
like  them  ? 

Thus  reason  those  pretended  philosophers  who  court  fame  by 
writing  huge  volumes  on  the  origin  of  human  language,  without 
knowing,  perhaps,  any  language  but  their  own,  and  the  little 
Latin  and  Greek  that  they  have  been  taught  at  College.  You 
would  think,  when  you  read  their  works,  that  they  had  lived  in 
the  first  ages  of  the  creation  and  had  been  intimately  acquainted 
with  the  family  of  our  first  parents.  They  know  exactly  what 
words  were  first  uttered  when  men  began  to  communicate  their 
ideas  to  each  other  by  means  of  articulated  sounds;  they  can  tell 
you  how  the  various  parts  of  speech,  in  perfect  regular  order, 
were  successively  formed,  and  with  a  little  encouragement,  they 
would,  I  have  no  doubt,  compile  a  Grammar  and  Dictionary  of 
the  primitive  language,  as  one  Psalmanazar  did  once  in  England 
of  a  supposed  Formosan  tongue.  It  is  a  pity,  indeed,  that  the 
Delawares,  the  Wyandots  and  the  Potowatamies,  with  languages 
formed  on  a  construction  which  had  not  been  before  thought  of, 
come  to  destroy  their  beautiful  theories.  What  then  ?  are  we 
to  suppress  the  languages  of  our  good  Indians,  or  to  misrep 
resent  them,  that  the  existing  systems  on  Universal  Grammar 
and  the  origin  of  language  may  be  preserved  ?  No,  my  friend, 
we  shall  on  the  contrary,  I  hope,  labour  with  all  our  might  to 
make  them  known,  and  provide,  at  least,  additional  facts  for 
future  theorists. 

I  have  been  led  into  this  chain  of  ideas  by  reading  the  pon 
derous  work  of  a  Scotch  Lord  named  Monboddo,  who  has 
dreamt  of  languages  more  than  any  other  writer  that  I  know. 
On  the  authority  of  a  Father  Sagard,  (a  French  Missionary)  he 
represents  the  language  of  the  Hurons  as  the  most  incoherent 
and  unsystematical  heap  of  vocables  that  can  possibly  be  con 
ceived.  Their  words  have  no  regular  formation  or  derivation, 
no  roots  or  radical  syllables,  there  is  no  analogy  whatever  in 
the  construction  or  arrangement  of  this  language.  He  says,  for 
instance,  that  there  is  a  word  for  "  two  years  '*  entirely  different 
from  those  which  signify  one,  three,  four  or  ten  years ;  that 
"hut"  "my  hut"  and' "  in  my  hut"  are  severally  expressed  by 


378  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

words  entirely  different  from  each  other.  He  adduces  several 
other  examples  of  the  same  kind,  with  which  I  shall  not  trouble 
you,  and  concludes  with  saying,  that  "  the  Huron  language  is 
the  most  imperfect  of  any  that  has  been  yet  discovered."  (Orig. 
of  Lang.,  Vol.  L,  p.  478.) 

Before  we  proceed  further,  let  us  suppose  that  a  Huron  or  a 
Delaware  is  writing  a  treatise  on  the  origin  of  language,  and  in 
the  pride  of  pompous  ignorance  attempts  to  make  similar  obser 
vations  on  the  English  idiom.  Following  Lord  Monboddo's 
course  of  reasoning,  he  will  say:  "  The  English  is  the  most 
imperfect  language  upon  earth,  for  its  words  have  no  kind  of 
analogy  to  each  other.  They  say,  for  instance,  '  a  house,'  and 
the  things  that  belong  to  a  house  they  call  'domestic'  They 
say  'a  year'  and  'an  annual  payment/  for  a  sum  of  money 
payable  every  year.  That  is  not  all ;  if  the  payment  is  to  be 
made  in  two  years,  it  is  then  called  biennial,  in  which  you  find 
no  trace  of  either  the  word  two  or  the  word  'year',  of  which  in 
a  regular  language  it  should  be  compounded.  What  belongs  to 
a  King  is  royal;  to  a  woman,  feminine;  to  a  ship,  naval  ;  to  a 
town,  urban ;  to  the  country,  rural.  Such  another  irregular,  un 
methodical  dialect  never  existed,  I  believe,  on  the  back  of  the 
great  tortoise  !  !  " 

Such  would  be  the  language  of  our  Huron  philosopher,  and 
he  would  be  about  as  right  as  Lord  Monboddo.  I  have  read 
this  work  of  Father  Sagard,  of  which  there  is  a  copy  in  the 
Congress  library.  It  appears  to  me  that  the  good  Father  was 
an  honest,  well  meaning,  but  most  ignorant  friar,  of  one  of  the 
mendicant  orders.  His  residence  among  the  Hurons  was  very 
short,  not  more  than  a  twelve-month  ;  he  was,  I  know  not  for 
what  reason,  called  home  by  his  superiors,  and  left  America 
with  great  regret.  He  has  collected  a  number  of  words  and 
phrases  of  the  Huron  language  in  the  form  of  a  vocabulary, 
which  he  improperly  calls  a  dictionary.  I  have  had  it  copied 
and  shall  shew  it  to  you  when  you  come  to  town.  You  will  be 
satisfied  when  you  see  it,  that  the  good  man  not  only  never  ana 
lysed  the  language  of  the  Hurons,  but  was  incapable  of  doing 
it.  He  was  perfectly  bewildered  in  the  variety  of  its  forms,  and 
drew  the  very  common  conclusion  that  what  he  could  not  com- 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  37Q 

prehend  was  necessarily  barbarous  and  irregular.  From  an 
attentive  perusal  of  his  "  dictionary,"  I  am  inclined  to  draw  the 
opposite  conclusion  from  that  which  he  has  drawn.  There  ap 
pears  to  me  to  be  in  it  sufficient  internal  evidence  to  shew  that 
the  Huron  language  is  rich  in  grammatical  forms,  and  that  it  is 
constructed  much  on  the  same  plan  with  the  Delaware.  I  shall 
be  very  glad  to  have  your  opinion  on  it,  with  such  information 
as  you  are  able  and  willing  to  give.  I  beg  particularly  that  you 
will  let  me  know  whether  there  are  roots  and  derivations  in  the 
Indian  languages,  analogous  to  those  of  our  own  ? 

I  am,  &c. 


LETTER    XIII. 

TO  MR.  HECKEWELDER. 

PHILADELPHIA,  i8lh  July,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR.  —  In  your  letter  of  the  2/th  of  May  you  have  said 
that  you  believed  the  Delaware  nation  were  those  whom  the 
Baron  La  Hontan  meant  to  designate  by  the  name  of  Algonkins. 
In  a  subsequent  letter,  (June  2Oth,)  you  seem  to  consider  them 
as  distinct  nations,  but  nearly  allied  to  each  other;  you  say  you 
are  not  well  acquainted  with  their  language,  which  is  not  the 
same  with  that  of  the  Lenape,  though  there  is  a  considerable 
affinity  between  them.  Upon  the  whole  I  suppose  that  you  have 
meant  to  apply  the  denomination  Algonkins,  not  only  to  the 
Delawares  proper,  but  to  all  the  nations  and  tribes  of  the  same 
family. 

This  has  led  me  to  consider  who  those  Algonkins  might  be 
that  La  Hontan  speaks  of,  and  upon  the  best  investigation  that 
I  have  been  able  to  make  of  the  subject,  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
that  La  Hontan's  Algonkins  are  properly  those  whom  we  call 
Chippeways,  a  family  or  branch  of  the  Delawares,  but  not  the 
Delawares  themselves.  I  first  turned  to  Dr.  Barton's  "  New 
Views  of  the  Origin  of  the  Nations  and  Tribes  of  America,"  in 
which  I  found  that  he  considered  the  Delawares  and  Chippeways 
as  two  distinct  people ;  but  when  I  came  to  the  specimens  which 


380  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

he  gives  of  their  languages  in  his  Vocabularies,  I  found  no  dif 
ference  whatever  in  the  idioms  of  the  two  nations.  Pursuing  the 
enquiry  further,  I  compared  the  Vocabulary  of  the  Chippeway 
language  given  by  Carver  in  his  travels,  and  that  of  the  Algon- 
kin  by  La  Hontan,  and  was  much  astonished  to  find  the  words 
in  each  language  exactly  alike,  without  any  difference  but  what 
arises  from  the  French  and  English  orthography.  The  words 
explained  by  the  two  authors,  happen  also  to  be  precisely  the 
same,  and  are  arranged  in  the  same  alphabetical  order.  So  that 
either  Carver  is  a  gross  plagiarist,  who  has  pretended  to  give  a 
list  of  Chippeway  words  and  has  only  copied  the  Algonkin 
words  given  by  La  Hontan,  or  the  Chippeways  and  Algonkins 
are  one  and  the  same  people.  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  have  your 
opinion  on  this  subject. 

I  find  in  Zeisberger's  Grammar  something  that  I  cannot  well 
comprehend.  It  is  the  verb  "  ridellauchsi "  which  he  translates 
"  I  live,  move  about,"  or  "  I  so  live  that  I  move  about."  Pray, 
is  this  the  only  verb  in  the  Delaware  language,  which  signifies 
"  to  live''  and  have  the  Indians  no  idea  of  "  life,"  but  when  con 
nected  with  "  locomotion  "  ? 

Is  the  W'm  the  Delaware,  as  your  Missionaries  write  it,  to  be 
pronounced  like  the  same  letter  in  German,  or  like  the  English 
PFand  the  French  ou?  If  this  letter  has  the  German  sound, 
then  it  is  exactly  the  same  as  that  of  our  V;  in  that  case  I 
am  astonished  that  the  Delawares  cannot  pronounce  the  F,  the 
two  sounds  being  so  nearly  alike.  I  am,  &c. 


LETTER  XIV. 

FROM  MR.  HECKEWELDER. 


BETHLEHEM,  22d  July,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR.  —  I  received  at  the  same  time  your  two  letters  of 
the  1 3th  and  i8th  inst.,  the  last  by  our  friend  Dr.  Wistar.  I 
think  you  are  wrong  to  complain  of  the  little  importance  attached 
by  the  learned  of  Europe  to  the  study  of  Indian  languages  and  of 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  381 

the  false  ideas  which  some  of  them  have  conceived  respecting 
them.  The  truth  is  that  sufficient  pains  have  not  been  taken  in 
this  country  to  make  them  known.  Our  Missionaries  have,  in 
deed,  compiled  grammars  and  dictionaries  of  those  idioms,  but 
more  with  a  view  to  practical  use  and  to  aid  their  fellow-labourers 
in  the  great  work  of  the  conversion  of  the  Indians  to  Christianity, 
than  in  order  to  promote  the  study  of  the  philosophy  of  lan 
guage.  They  have  neither  sought  fame  nor  profit,  and  therefore 
their  compositions  have  remained  unknown  except  in  the  very 
limited  circle  of  our  religious  society.  It  belongs  to  the  literary 
associations  of  America  to  pursue  or  encourage  those  studies  in 
a  more  extended  point  of  view,  and  I  shall  be  happy  to  aid  to 
the  utmost  of  my  power  the  learned  researches  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society. 

Your  remarks  on  Lord  Monboddo's  opinion  respecting  the  In 
dian  languages,  and  on  Father  Sagard's  work,  on  which  that 
opinion  is  founded,  I  believe  to  be  correct.  I  am  not  acquainted 
with  the  language  of  the  Hurons,  which  I  have  always  under 
stood  to  be  a  dialect  of  that  of  the  Iroquois,  or  at  least  to  be 
derived  from  the  same  stock,  and  I  cannot  conceive  why  it 
should  be  so  poor  and  so  imperfect  as  the  good  Father  describes 
it,  while  its  kindred  idiom,  the  Iroquois,  is  directly  the  reverse. 
At  least,  it  was  so  considered  by  Mr.  Zeisberger,  who  was  very 
well  acquainted  with  it.  Sir  William  Johnson  thought  the  same, 
and  I  believe  you  will  find  his  opinion  on  the  subject  in  one  of 
the  Volumes  of  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Lon 
don.1  Golden,  in  his  History  of  the  Five  Nations,  says  "  that 
the  verbs  of  that  language  are  varied,  but  in  a  manner  so  differ 
ent  from  the  Greek  and  Latin,  that  his  informant  could  not  dis 
cover  by  what  rule  it  was  done."5  I  suspect  his  informant 
had  not  yet  acquired  a  very  profound  knowledge  of  the  Iroquois; 
but  from  his  imperfect  description  of  their  verbs,  I  am  very  nearly 
convinced  that  they  are  formed  on  the  same  model  with  those 
of  the  Lenni  Lenape,  which  Mr.  Zeisberger  has  well  described 
in  his  Grammar  of  that  language.  Golden  praises  this  idiom  in 

1  See  Philos.  Trans,  abridged;  vol.  Ixiii.,  142. 

*  Colden's  Hist,  of  the  Five  Nations.     Octavo  ed.,  1747,  p.  14. 


382  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

other  respects ;  he  says  that  "  the  Six  Nations  compound  their 
words  without  end,  whereby  their  language  becomes  sufficiently 
copious."  This  is  true  also  of  the  Delawares. 

The  Hurons  are  the  same  people  whom  we  call  Wyandots  ; 
the  Delawares  call  them  Delamattenos.  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
that  the  tribe  whom  we  call  Naudowessies^nd  the  French  Sioux, 
who  are  said  to  live  to  the  west  or  north-west  of  Lake  Superior, 
are  a  branch  of  the  Hurons;  for  the  rivers  which  we  call  Huron, 
(of  which  there  are  three)1  are  called  by  the  Chippeways,  Nadu- 
wewi,  or  Naudowessie  Sipi.  But  of  this  I  cannot  be  sure  ;  though 
I  would  rather  conclude  that  Naudowessie  is  the  Chippeway 
name  for  all  the  Wyandots  or  Hurons.  It  is  a  fact  which,  I 
think,  deserves  to  be  ascertained.  It  is  a  very  common  error 
to  make  several  Indian  nations  out  of  one,  by  means  of  the 
different  names  by  which  it  is  known. 

I  proceed  to  answer  the  questions  contained  in  your  letter  of 
the  1 8th. 

As  it  seems  to  me  probable  that  the  Naudowessies  and  Hu 
rons,  though  called  by  different  names,  are  the  same  people ;  so 
it  may  be  the  case  with  the  Chippeways  and  the  Algonkins, 
although  I  have  no  greater  certainty  of  this  hypothesis  than  of 
the  former.  I  have  no  doubt,  however,  of  their  being  both  de 
rived  from  the  same  stock,  which  is  that  of  the  Lenni  Lenape : 
that  their  languages  are  strikingly  similar  is  evident  from  the 
two  vocabularies  that  you  mention,  and  I  had  rather  believe  that 
they  both  speak  the  same  language,  than  that  Captain  Carver 
was  a  plagiarist.  The  accounts  which  he  gives  of  the  Indians  I 
have  found  in  general  correct;  which  is  the  more  remarkable, 
that  from  his  own  account,  it  appears  that  he  did  not  reside  very 
long  among  them.  He  must  have  been,  therefore,  a  very  atten 
tive  and  accurate  observer. 

It  is  very  probable  that  I  did  not  express  myself  with  sufficient 
precision  in  the  passages  of  my  letters  of  the  2/th  of  May  and 
2Oth  of  June  to  which  you  refer.  The  Lenni  Lenape,  or  Dela 
wares,  are  the  head  of  a  great  family  of  Indian  nations  who  are 
known  among  themselves  by  the  generic  name  of  Wapanachki, 

1  One  of  them  empties  itself  into  the  north  side  of  Lake  St.  Clair,  another  at  the 
west  end  of  Lake  Erie,  and  a  third  on  the  south  side  of  the  said  lake,  about  twenty- 
rwe  miles  east  of  Sandusky  river  or  bay. 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  383 

or  "  Men  of  the  East."  The  same  language  is  spread  among 
them  all  in  various  dialects,  of  which  I  conceive  the  purest  is 
that  of  the  chief  nation,  the  Lenape,  at  whose  residence  the 
grand  national  councils  meet,  and  whom  the  others,  by  way  of 
respect,  style  grandfather.  The  Algonkins  are  a  branch  of  that 
family,  but  are  not,  in  my  opinion,  entitled  to  the  pre-eminence 
which  the  Baron  La  Hontan  ascribes  to  them.  He  applied  the 
name  "  Algonkin,"  in  a  more  extensive  sense  than  it  deserves, 
and  said  that  the  Algonkin  language  was  the  finest  and  most 
universally  spread  of  any  on  the  continent ;  a  praise  to  which  I 
think  the  Lenni  Lenape  idiom  alone  is  entitled.  In  this  sense 
only  I  meant  to  say  that  the  Baron  included  the  Delawares  in 
the  general  descriptive  name  of  4<  Algonkins." 

I  have  yet  to  answer  your  questions  respecting  the  language, 
which  I  shall  do  in  a  subsequent  letter.  I  am,  &c. 


LETTER   XV. 

FROM  THE  SAME. 

BETHLEHEM,  24th  July,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR.  —  I  have  now  to  answer  your  question  on  the  sub 
ject  of  the  Delaware  verb,  ridellauchsi,  which  Zeisberger  trans 
lates  by  "  I  live,  or  move  about,"  or  "  I  so  live  that  I  move  about." 
You  ask  whether  this  is  the  only  verb  in  the  language  which  ex 
presses  "  to  live"  and  whether  the  Indians  have  an  idea  of  life, 
otherwise  than  as  connected  with  locomotion  f 

Surely  they  have ;  and  I  do  not  see  that  the  contrary  follows 
from  Mr.  Zeisberger's  having  chosen  this  particular  verb  as  an 
example  of  the  first  conjugation.  I  perceive  you  have  not  yet  an 
adequate  idea  of  the  copiousness  of  the  Indian  languages,  which 
possess  an  immense  number  of  comprehensive  words,  expressive 
of  almost  every  possible  combination  of  ideas.  Thus  the  proper 
word  for  "  to  live  "  is  in  the  pure  Unami  dialect  le hale  he  en.  An 
Unami  meeting  an  aged  acquaintance,  whom  he  has  not  seen  for 
a  length  of  time,  will  address  him  thus  :  "IK  k'lehelleya  ?  "  *  which 

i  For  "  K'lehelleya"  read  «  K'lehellecheya.n 


384  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

means,  "  are  you  yet  alive  ?  "  The  other  will  answer  "Hi  n'papo- 
missi"  l  "  I  am  yet  able  to  walk  about."  The  verb  ij dellauchsin, 
which  Mr.  Zeisberger  quotes,  is  more  generally  employed  in  a 
spiritual  sense,  "  ridellauchsin  Patamawos  wulelendam"  "  I  live 
up,  act  up  to  the  glory  of  God."  This  verb,  like  pommauchsin, 
implies  action  or  motion,  connected  with  life,  which  is  still  the 
principal  idea.  I  do  not  know  of  any  thing  analogous  in  the 
English  language,  except,  perhaps,  when  we  say  "  To  walk 
humbly  before  God ;  "  but  here  the  word  zvalk  contains  properly 
no  idea  in  itself  but  that  of  locomotion,  and  is  not  coupled  with 
the  idea  of  life,  as  in  the  Indian  verb  which  I  have  cited.  The 
idea  intended  to  be  conveyed  arises  in  English  entirely  from  the 
figurative  sense  of  the  word,  in  the  Delaware  from  the  proper 
sense. 

I  should  never  have  done,  were  I  to  endeavour  to  explain  to 
you  in  all  their  details  the  various  modes  which  the  Indians  have 
of  expressing  ideas,  shades  of  ideas,  and  combinations  of  ideas  ; 
for  which  purpose  the  various  parts  of  speech  are  successively 
called  to  their  aid.  In  the  conjugations  of  the  verbs,  in  Zeis- 
berger's  Grammar,  you  will  find  but  three  tenses,  present,  past, 
and  future;  but  you  will  be  much  mistaken  if  you  believe  that 
there  are  no  other  modes  of  expressing  actions  and  passions  in 
the  verbal  form  as  connected  with  the  idea  of  time.  It  would 
have  been  an  endless  work  to  have  given  all  those  explanations 
in  an  elementary  grammar  intended  for  the  use  of  young  Mis 
sionaries,  who  stood  in  need  only  of  the  principal  forms,  which 
they  were  to  perfect  afterwards  by  practice.  Let  me  now  try  to 
give  you  a  faint  idea  of  what  I  mean  by  a  few  examples  in  the 
Delaware  language. 

N'mitzi,  I  eat? 

N'mamitzi,  I  am  eating,  or  am  in  the  act  of  eating. 

N'mitzihump,  I  have  eaten. 

Metschi  n'gischi  mitzi,  I  am  come  from  eating. 

N'dappi  mitzi,  /  am  returned  from  eating. 

1  From  the  verb  Pommauchsin. 

2  In  the  original  it  is  N'mizi  ;  the  German  z  being  pronounced  like  tz,  which  mode 
of  spelling  has  been  adopted  in  this  publication. 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  385 

The  first  two  rimitzi  and  n'mamitzi,  both  mean  I  eat,  but  the 
one  is  used  in  the  indefinite,  and  the  other  in  the  definite  sense, 
and  a  good  speaker  will  never  employ  the  one  instead  of  the 
other.  The  three  last  expressions  are  all  past  tenses  of  the  verb 
" I  eat"  and  all  mean,  "  I  have  eaten"  but  a  person  just  risen 
from  table,  will  not  say,  "ridappi  mitzi ;"  this  expression  can 
only  be  used  after  leaving  the  place  where  he  has  been  eating, 
in  answer  to  a  person  who  asks  him  "  where  he  comes  from." 
The  word  i(  n'dappi  "  is  connected  with  the  verb  apatscliin,  to  re 
turn.  There  is  another  distinction,  proper  to  be  mentioned  here. 
If  the  place  where  the  person  comes  from  is  near,  he  says 
"rfdappi"  if  distant  "n'dappa."  Thus: 

N'dappi  pihm,  /  am  come  from  sweating  (or  from  the  sweat 
oven.) 

N'dappihackiheen,  I  am  come  from  planting. 
N'dappi  wickheen,  I  am  come  from  building  a  house. 
N'dappimanschasqueen,  I  am  come  f win  mowing  grass. 
N'dappi  notamsesin,  I  am  come  from  striking  fish  with  a  spear. 
N'dappallauwin,  I  am  come  (returned]  from  hunting. 
N'dappachtopalin,  I  am  come  {returned)  from  making  war. 

In  the  future  tense  I  could  shew  similar  distinctions,  but  it 
would  lead  me  too  far. 

I  must  now  take  notice  of  what  Father  Sagard  says,  as  you 
have  mentioned  in  your  letter  of  the  I3th  inst,  that  the  Indian 
languages  have  "  no  roots,  and  that  there  is  no  regularity  in  the 
formation  of  their  words."  It  is  certain  that  the  manner  in  which 
the  Indians  in  general  form  their  words  is  different  from  that  of 
the  Europeans,  but  I  can  easily  prove  to  you  that  they  under 
stand  the  manner  of  forming  them  from  "'roots"  I  take,  for 
instance,  the  word  wulit,  good,  proper,  right,  from  which  are 
derived : 

Wulik,  the  good. 
Wulaha,  better. 
Wulisso,  fine,  pretty. 
Wulamoewagan,  truth. 
Wulatenamuwi,  happy. 
25 


386  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

Wulatenamoagan,  happiness. 
Wulapensowagan,  blessing. 
Wulapan,/^  morning. 
Wuliechen,  it  is  good,  or  well  done. 
Wulittol,  they  are  good. 
Wuliken,  it  grows  well,  thrives. 
Wuliechsin,  to  speak  well. 
Wulelendam,  to  rejoice. 
Wulamallsin,  to  be  well,  happy. 

Wulandeu,       )      £       , 

\  a  fine  day. 
Wuligischgu,  j 

Wulapeyu, ///.?/,  upright. 
Wuliwatam,  to  be  of  good  understanding. 
Wuliachpin,  to  be  in  a  good  place. 
Wulilissin,  to  do  well. 
Wulilissu,  he  is  good. 
Wulilissick,  behave  ye  well. 
Wulinaxin,  to  look  well. 
Wulamoeyu,  it  is  true. 
Wulantowagan,  grace. 
Wulatopnachgat,1  a  good  word. 
Wulatopnamik,  good  tidings. 
Wulatonamin,2  to  be  happy. 
Wulissowagan,  prettiness,  handsome  appearance, 
Wulihilleu,  it  is  good. 
Wulineichquot,  it  is  ivell  to  be  seen. 
Wulelemileu,  it  is  wonderful. 
Wulitehasu,  well  cut  or  hewed. 
Wuliwiechinen,  to  rest  well. 
Welsit  Mannitto,  the  Good  Spirit. 
From  Machtit,  bad. 
Machtitsu,  nasty. 
Machtesinsu,  ugly. 

Machtschi  or  Matschi  Mannitto  or  Machtando,  the  evil  Spirit,  the 
Devil,  &c. 


1  For  "  Wulatopnachgat'1''  read  "  Wulaptonachgat." 
2 For  "  Wulatonamin'1'1  read  "  Wulatenamin." 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  387 

You  will  naturally  observe  that  the  words  derived  from  the 
root  Wulit,  imply  in  general  the  idea  of  what  is  good,  handsome, 
proper,  decent,  just,  well,  and  so  pursuing  the  same  general 
object  to  happiness  and  its  derivatives ;  happiness  being  con 
sidered  as  a  good  and  pleasant  feeling,  or  situation  of  the  mind, 
and  a  person  who  is  happy,  as  being  well.  This  does  not,  as 
you  might  suppose,  make  the  language  ambiguous ;  for  the 
Indians  speak  and  understand  each  other  with  great  precision 
and  clearness. 

I  have  yet  to  answer  your  question  about  the /"and  w.  There 
are  in  the  Delaware  language  no  such  consonants  as  the  German 
w,  or  English  v,f,  or  r.  Where  w  in  this  language  is  placed 
before  a  vowel,  it  sounds  the  same  as  in  English ;  before  a  con 
sonant,  it  represents  a  whistled  sound  of  which  I  cannot  well 
give  you  an  idea  on  paper,  but  which  I  shall  easily  make  you 
understand  by  uttering  it  before  you  when  we  meet. 

I  am,  &c. 


LETTER    XVI. 

TO  MR.  HECKEWELDER. 

PHILADELPHIA,  3ist  July,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR. — I  have  received  with  the  greatest  pleasure  your 
two  favours  of  the  24th  and  26th  inst. ;  the  last,  particularly,  has 
opened  to  me  a  very  wide  field  for  reflection.  I  am  pursuing 
with  ardour  the  study  of  the  Indian  languages  (I  mean  of  their 
grammatical  forms)  in  all  the  authors  that  I  can  find  that  have 
treated  of  the  subject,  and  am  astonished  at  the  great  similarity 
which  I  find  between  those  different  idioms  from  Greenland  even 
to  Chili.  They  all  appear  to  me  to  be  compounded  on  a  model 
peculiar  to  themselves,  and  of  which  I  had  not  before  an  idea. 
Those  personal  forms  of  the  verbs,  for  instance,  which  you  men 
tion  in  your  letter  of  the  2Oth  of  June,  I  find  generally  existing 
in  the  American  languages.  The  Spanish- Mexican  Grammarians 
call  them  transitions,  but  they  are  not  all  equally  happy  in  their 
modes  of  explaining  their  nature  and  use.  The  word  "  transition" 


388  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

however,  I  think  extremely  well  chosen,  as  it  gives  at  once  an 
idea  of  the  passage  of  the  verb  from  the  pronoun  that  governs  to 
that  which  is  governed,  from  "I  love"  to  "I  love  you."  The 
forms  of  the  Indian  verbs  are  so  numerous,  that  a  proper  techni 
cal  term  is  very  much  wanted  to  distinguish  this  particular  class, 
and  I  adopt  with  pleasure  this  appropriate  Spanish  name,  at  least, 
until  a  better  one  can  be  found. 

I  am  sufficiently  satisfied  from  the  examples  in  your  last  let 
ter  that  the  Indians  have  in  their  languages  "  roots,"  or  radical 
words  from  which  many  others  are  derived  ;  indeed,  I  never 
doubted  it  before,  and  only  meant  to  shew  you  by  the  instances 
of  Father  Sagard,  and  Lord  Monboddo,  what  false  ideas  the 
Europeans  have  conceived  on  this  subject.  The  various  mean 
ings  of  the  word  "  wulit"  and  its  derivatives,  obtained,  as  you 
have  shewn,  by  easy  or  natural  transitions  from  one  kindred 
idea  to  another,  are  nothing  new  in  language.  The  Greek  has 
the  word  "  kalos"  which  in  its  various  meanings  is  very  analo 
gous  to  "  ivulit"  Instances  of  similar  "transitions"  from  differ 
ent  European  idioms  might  be  cited  without  end.  There  is  one 
in  the  French  which  strikes  me  at  this  moment  with  peculiar 
force.  In  that  language,  an  honest  man  is  "just"  in  his  dealings 
and  a  judge  in  his  judgments  ;  but  a  pair  of  shoes  is  so  likewise, 
when  made  exactly  to  fit  the  foot,  and  by  a  natural  transition, 
when  the  shoes  are  too  tight,  they  are  said  to  be  too  just  (trop 
justes).  A  foreigner  in  France  is  reported  to  have  said  to  his 
shoemaker,  complaining  of  the  tightness  of  a  pair  of  new  made 
shoes  :  "  Monsieur,  ces  souliers  sont  trop  equitables"  I  remember 
also  an  English  song,  beginning  with  the  words  "Just  like  love" 
where  you  see  the  word  "just"  is  employed  without  at  all  im 
plying  the  idea  of  equity  or  justice.  But  justice  is  strict,  exact, 
correct,  precise,  and  therefore  the  word  just  is  employed  for  the 
purpose  of  expressing  these  and  other  ideas  connected  with  that 
to  which  it  was  first  applied. 

I  have  made  these  trite  observations,  because  I  am  well  aware 
that  many  a  priori  reasoners  would  not  fail  to  find  in  so  many 
words  of  different  meanings  derived  from  the  same  root,  a  proof  of 
the  poverty  of  the  Indian  languages.  They  would  say  that  they 
are  poor,  because  they  have  but  few  radical  words,  a  conclusion 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  389 

which  they  would  infallibly  make  without  taking  the  pains  of 
ascertaining  the  fact.  If  they  were  told  that  the  Greek  (the 
copiousness  of  which  is  universally  acknowledged)  has  itself  but 
a  comparatively  small  number  of  roots,  they  would  not  be  at  a 
loss  to  find  some  other  reason  in  support  of  their  pre-conceived 
opinion.  I  have  read  somewhere  (I  cannot  recollect  in  what 
book),  that  there  was  not  a  greater  proof  of  the  barbarism  of  the 
Indian  languages,  than  the  comprehensiveness  of  their  locutions. 
The  author  reasoned  thus  :  Analysis,  he  said,  is  the  most  diffi 
cult  operation  of  the  human  mind  ;  it  is  the  last  which  man 
learns  to  perform.  Savage  nations,  therefore,  express  many 
ideas  in  a  single  word,  because  they  have  not  yet  acquired  the 
necessary  skill  to  separate  them  from  each  other  by  the  process 
of  analysis,  and  to  express  them  simply. 

If  this  position  were  true,  it  would  follow  that  all  the  lan 
guages  of  savage  nations  have  been  in  the  origin  formed  on  the 
same  model  with  those  of  the  American  Indians,  and  that  simple 
forms  have  been  gradually  introduced  into  them  by  the  progress 
of  civilisation.  But  if  we  take  the  trouble  of  enquiring  into  facts, 
they  will  by  no  means  lead  us  to  this  conclusion.  It  is  not  many 
centuries  since  the  Scandinavian  languages  of  the  North  of 
Europe  were  spoken  by  barbarous  and  savage  nations,  but  we 
do  not  find  that  in  ancient  times  they  were  more  comprehensive 
in  their  grammatical  forms  than  they  are  at  present,  when  cer 
tainly  they  are  the  least  so,  perhaps,  of  any  of  the  European 
idioms  ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  Latin  and  Greek  were  sufficiently 
so  by  means  of  the  various  moods  and  tenses  of  their  verbs,  all 
expressed  in  one  single  word,  without  the  use  of  auxiliaries  ;  and 
yet  these  two  nations  had  attained  a  very  high  degree,  at  least, 
of  civilisation.  I  do  not,  therefore,  see  as  yet,  that  there  is  a 
necessary  connexion  between  the  greater  or  lesser  degree  of 
civilisation  of  a  people,  and  the  organisation  of  their  language. 
These  general  conclusions  from  insulated  facts  ought  constantly 
to  be  guarded  against;  they  are  the  most  fruitful  sources  of 
error  in  the  moral  as  well  as  in  the  natural  sciences.  Facts 
ought  to  be  collected  and  observations  multiplied  long  before 
we  venture  to  indulge  in  theoretical  inferences ;  for  unobserved 
facts  seem  to  lie  in  ambush,  to  start  up  at  once  in  the  face  of  fine 
spun  theories,  and  put  philosophers  in  the  wrong. 


390  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

I  wish  very  much  that  some  able  linguist  would  undertake  to 
make  a  good  classification  of  the  different  languages  of  the  world 
(as  far  as  they  are  known)  in  respect  to  their  grammatical  forms. 
It  was  once  attempted  in  the  French  Encyclopedia,  but  without 
success,  because  the  author  had  only  in  view  the  Latin  and  Greek, 
and  those  of  the  modern  languages  which  he  was  acquainted 
with.  His  division,  if  I  remember  right,  was  formed  between 
those  idioms  in  which  inversions  are  allowed,  and  those  in  which 
they  are  not.  Of  course,  it  was  the  Latin  and  Greek  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  French,  Italian,  &c.,  on  the  other.  This  meagre 
classification  has  not  been  generally  adopted,  nor  does  it,  in  my 
opinion,  deserve  to  be.  A  greater  range  of  observation  ought 
to  be  taken. 

I  do  not  pretend  to  possess  talents  adequate  to  carrying  into 
execution  the  plan  which  I  here  suggest;  but  I  beg  you  will 
permit  me  to  draw  a  brief  sketch  of  what  I  have  in  view. 

I  observe,  in  the  first  place,  in  the  eastern  parts  of  Asia,  a  class 
of  languages  formed  on  the  same  model,  of  which  I  take  that 
which  is  spoken  in  the  empire  of  China,  as  it  stood  before  its  con 
quest  by  the  Tartars,  to  be  the  type.  In  this  language,  there  is 
but  a  very  small  number  of  words,  all  monosyllables.  As  far  as 
I  am  able  to  judge  from  the  excellent  grammars  of  this  idiom  of 
which  we  are  in  possession,  the  words  convey  to  the  mind  only 
the  principal  or  leading  ideas  of  the  discourse,  unconnected  with 
many  of  those  accessory  ideas  that  are  so  necessary  to  give  pre 
cision  to  language,  and  the  hearer  is  left  to  apply  and  arrange 
the  whole  together  as  well  as  he  can.  It  has  but  few  or  no 
grammatical  forms,  and  is  very  deficient  in  what  we  call  the  con 
necting  parts  of  speech.  Hence  it  is  said  that  the  words  spoken 
are  not  immediately  understood  by  those  to  whom  they  are  ad 
dressed,  and  that  auxiliary  modes  of  explanation,  others  than 
oral  communication,  are  sometimes  resorted  to,  when  ambiguities 
occur.  As  I  am  no  Sinologist,  I  will  not  undertake  to  say  that 
the  description  which  I  have  attempted  to  give  of  this  language, 
from  the  mere  reading  of  grammars  and  dictionaries,  is  very 
accurate,  but  I  venture  to  assert  that  it  differs  so  much  from  all 
others  that  we  know,  that  with  its  kindred  idioms,  it  deserves  to 
form  a  genus  in  a  general  classification  of  the  various  modes  of 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  3QI 

speech.  From  its  great  deficiency  of  grammatical  forms,  I  would 
give  to  this  genus  the  name  asyntactic. 

My  second  class  of  languages  would  consist  of  those  which 
possess,  indeed,  grammatical  forms,  sufficient  to  express  and  con 
nect  together  every  idea  to  be  communicated  by  means  of  speech, 
but  in  which  those  forms  are  so  organized,  that  almost  every  dis 
tinct  idea  has  a  single  word  to  convey  or  express  it.  Such  are 
the  Icelandic,  Danish,  Swedish,  and  even  the  German  and  Eng 
lish.  Those  forms  of  the  nouns  and  verbs  which  are  generally 
called  declensions  and  conjugations,  are  in  these  languages  the 
result  of  an  analytical  process  of  the  mind,  which  has  given  to 
every  single  idea,  and  sometimes  to  a  shade  of  an  idea,  a  single 
word  to  express  it.  Thus,  when  we  say  "  of  the  man,"  here  are 
three  ideas,  which,  in  the  Latin,  are  expressed  by  one  single 
word  "  hominis"  In  the  locution  "  /  will  not"  or  "  I  am  not  will 
ing"  and  in  the  verbal  form  "  I  will  go"  three  or  four  ideas  are 
separately  expressed  in  English,  which,  in  Latin,  are  conveyed 
together  by  single  words  "  nolo"  "  ibo"  From  this  peculiar 
quality  of  sufficiently,  yet  separately,  expressing  all  the  neces 
sary  ideas,  I  would  denominate  this  class  of  languages  analytical, 
or  analytic. 

The  third  class  would,  of  course,  be  that  in  which  the  principal 
parts  of  speech  are  formed  by  a  synthetical  operation  of  the 
mind,  and  in  which  several  ideas  are  frequently  expressed  by  one 
word.  Such  are  what  are  called  the  Oriental  languages,  with  the 
Latin,  Greek,  Slavonic,  and  others  of  the  same  description. 
These  I  would  call  synthetic. 

The  French,  Italian,  Spanish,  and  Portuguese,  with  their  vari 
ous  dialects,  in  which  conquest  has  in  a  great  degree  intermingled 
the  modes  of  speech  of  the  second  and  third  class,  would  together 
form  a  fourth,  which  I  would  call  "  mixed" 

In  these  various  classes  I  have  not  found  a  place  for  the  Indian 
languages,  which  richly  deserve  to  form  one  by  themselves. 
They  are  "synthetic"  in  their  forms,  but  to  such  a  degree  as  is 
not  equalled  by  any  of  the  idioms  which  I  have  so  denominated, 
and  which  are  only  such  in  comparison  with  others  where  ana 
lytic  forms  prevail.  That  they  deserve  to  make  a  class  by  them 
selves  cannot  be  doubted.  They  are  the  very  opposite  of  the 


3Q2  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

Chinese,  of  all  languages  the  poorest  in  words,  as  well  as  in 
grammatical  forms,  while  these  are  the  richest  in  both.  In  fact, 
a  great  variety  of  forms,  necessarily  implies  a  great  multiplicity 
of  words ;  I  mean,  complex  forms,  like  those  of  the  Indians; 
compound  words  in  which  many  ideas  are  included  together,  and 
are  made  to  strike  the  mind  in  various  ways  by  the  simple  ad 
dition  or  subtraction  of  a  letter  or  syllable.  In  the  Chinese 
much  is  understood  or  guessed  at,  little  is  expressed;  in  the 
Indian,  on  the  contrary,  the  mind  is  awakened  to  each  idea  meant 
to  be  conveyed,  by  some  one  or  other  of  the  component  parts 
of  the  word  spoken.  These  two  languages,  therefore,  as  far  as 
relates  to  their  organisation,  stand  in  direct  opposition  to  each 
other;  they  are  the  top  and  bottom  of  the  idiomatic  scale,  and 
as  I  have  given  to  the  Chinese,  and  its  kindred  dialects,  the  name 
of  asyntactic,  the  opposite  name,  syntactic,  appears  to  me  that 
which  is  best  suited  to  the  languages  of  the  American  Indians. 
I  find  that  instead  of  asking  you  questions,  as  I  ought  to  do,  I 
am  wandering  again  in  the  field  of  metaphysical  disquisitions. 
I  shall  try  to  be  more  careful  in  my  next  letter.  I  am,  &c. 


LETTER   XVII. 

TO  THE  SAME. 

PHILADELPHIA,  3d  August,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR.  —  I  now  return  to  my  proper  station  of  a  scholar 
asking  questions  of  his  master.  In  your  letter  of  the  24th  ult., 
you  have  fully  satisfied  me  that  the  Indians  have  a  great  number 
of  words  derived  from  "roots"  much  in  the  same  manner  as  in 
the  languages  of  Europe,  but  you  have  said  at  the  same  time 
"  that  the  manner  in  which  the  Indians  in  general  form  their 
words,  is  different  from  that  of  the  Europeans."  I  am  very 
anxious  to  have  this  manner1  explained,  and  I  shall  be  very  much 
obliged  to  you  for  all  the  information  that  you  can  give  me  on 
the  subject. 

1  For  "  manner"  read  "  matter." 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  393 

I  have  told  you  already  that  I  thought  I  had  reason  to  believe 
that  all  the  American  languages  were  formed  on  the  same  gen 
eral  plan.  If  I  am  correct  in  my  supposition,  I  think  I  have  found 
in  the  language  of  Greenland,  the  identical  manner  of  compound 
ing  words  which  I  am  now  calling  upon  you  to  explain.  You 
will  tell  me  whether  I  have  judged  right,  and  you  will  at  once 
destroy  or  confirm  my  favourite  hypothesis.  According  to  the 
venerable  Egede,  words  are  formed  in  the  Greenland  language 
by  taking  and  joining  together  a  part  of  each  of  the  radical  words, 
the  ideas  of  which  are  to  be  combined  together  in  one  compound 
locution.  One  or  more  syllables  of  each  simple  word  are  gen 
erally  chosen  for  that  purpose  and  combined  together,  often  leav 
ing  out  the  harsh  consonants  for  the  sake  of  euphony.  Thus 
from  "  agglekpok"  he  writes,  " pekipok"  he  mends  or  does  better, 
and  "  pinniarpok"  he  endeavours,  is  formed  the  compound  word 
"  agglekiniaret"  which  means,  "  endeavour  to  write  better." 
The  first  syllable  "  agl"  is  taken  from  "  zg\ekpok"  the  second 
"  ek"  from  the  same  word,  and  also  from  the  first  syllable  of 
"  pekipok"  leaving  out  the  /  to  avoid  harshness,  and  the  third 
"  inniar"  from  "Ymm&rpok"  also  leaving  out  the  initial  con 
sonant  for  the  same  reason.  It  seems  to  me  that  I  find  some 
thing  like  it  in  the  Delaware  language.  According  to  Zeisberger, 
wefoochwM  signifies  "  father."  Now  taking  the  second  syllable 
ooch,  and  placing  n  before  it,  you  have  "  nooch"  my  father.  To 
be  sure,  it  is  not  the  first  syllable  that  is  borrowed,  as  in  the 
above  example  from  the  Greenlandish,  but  the  principle  appears, 
nevertheless,  to  be  the  same  in  both  languages. 

On  the  subject  of  this  word  "father"  I  observe  a  strange  con 
tradiction  between  two  eminent  writers  on  Indian  languages, 
evidently  derived  from  the  stock  of  the  Lenni  Lenape  or  Dela 
ware.  One  of  them,  Roger  Williams,  in  his  Key  to  the  Language 
of  the  New  England  Indians,  says  " osh"  (meaning  probably  och 
or  ooch,  as  the  English  cannot  pronounce  the  guttural  cJi)  father; 
"nosh"  my  father;  " kosh"  thy  father,  &c.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards,  in  his  observations  on  the  language 
of  the  Muhhekanew  (Mohican)  Indians,  speaks  as  follows :  "  A 
considerable  part  of  the  appellations  is  never  used  without  a 
pronoun  affixed.  The  Mohegans  say,  my  father,  'nogh*  (again 


394  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

nock  or  nooch)  thy  father  ' koghj  &c.,  but  they  cannot  say  abso 
lutely  'father'  There  is  no  such  word  in  their  language.  If 
you  were  to  say  '  oghj  you  would  make  a  Mohegan  both  stare 
and  smile."  (page  13.) 

Which  of  these  two  professors  is  right  ?  It  seems  that  either 
Rogers  invented  the  word  osh  for  "  father,"  from  analogy,  or 
that  Edwards  is  not  correct  when  he  says  that  ogh  or  ooch 
singly,  mean  nothing  in  the  Indian  language.  Is  he  not  mis 
taken  when  he  says  that  there  is  no  word  whatever  answering 
to  "father,"  or  "the  father,"  in  an  abstract  sense;  and  if  an  In 
dian  would  stare  and  smile  when  a  white  man  says  ooch,  would 
he  smile  in  the  same  manner  if  he  said  wetoochivink  ?  Is  it  pos 
sible  to  suppose  that  this  respectable  author  had  only  a  partial 
knowledge  of  the  language  on  which  he  wrote,  and  that  he  was 
not  acquainted  with  the  radical  word  from  which  nooch  and  kooch 
had  been  formed?  Or  is  there  no  such  radical  word,  and  has 
Zeisberger  himself  committed  a  mistake  ? 

I  beg  leave  to  submit  to  you  also  another  observation  that  I 
have  made.  It  appears  from  the  work  of  the  late  Dr.  Barton, 
who  quotes  your  authority  for  it,  that  the  name  of  the  Lcnni  Lcn- 
ape,  means  "the  original  people,"  and  that  "Lcnno"  in  the  Dela 
ware  language  signifies  "  man,"  in  the  general  sense,  (Mcnsch.) 
Now,  it  appears  that  in  the  language  of  the  Micmacs  (a  tribe  of 
Nova  Scotia,)  they  call  an  Indian  "Illenoh"  and  in  that  of  the 
Canadian  mountaineers  (whom  some  believe  to  be  the  Algon- 
kins  proper)  they  say  "  Illenmt."  (Mass.  Histor.  Coll.  for  the 
year  1799,  PP-  l8.  J9-)  I  am  apt  to  believe  that  those  names 
are  the  same  with  "Lcnno;'  and  that  it  is  from  them  that  the 
French  have  formed  the  name  "Illinois"  which  extends  even 
beyond  the  Mississippi.  In  the  speech  of  the  Indian  chief  Ga- 
rangula,  to  the  Governor  of  Canada,  related  by  La  Hontan,  the 
warrior  says :  "  You  must  know,  Onontio,  that  we  have  robbed 
no  Frenchmen,  but  those  who  supplied  the  '  Illinois •/  and  the 
'Oumamis;  our  enemies,  with  powder  and  ball."  I  am  inclined 
to  believe  that  Garangula  when  he  spoke  of  the  Illinois  meant 
the  Lenni  Lcnapc,  and  by  the  name  of  Ownamis,  intended  to  de 
scribe  their  chief  tribe,  the  Unamis.  Of  this,  however,  I  leave 
you  to  judge.  But  I  strongly  suspect  that  "Lenno,"  "Lenni"  "//- 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  395 

Icnoh"  "Illenou"  "Illinois"  are  the  same  name,  and  all  apply  to 
that  great  nation  whom  the  Baron  La  Hontan  takes  to  be  the 
Algonkins,  who,  it  would  seem,  are  only  called  so  by  way  of  dis 
crimination,  but  consider  themselves  as  a  branch  of  the  great 
family  of  the  "Illenou."  If  I  am  correct  in  this,  how  do  you 
make  out  that  Lenni  Lenape  means  "  original  people  "  / 

/The  Greenlanders,  according  to  Egede,  call  themselves  Innuit, 
which  in  their  language  also  signifies  men.  It  appears  to  me  to 
be  very  much  akin  to  Illenoh,  Illeun.  Could  the  Greenlanders 
be  in  any  way  connected  with  the  Lenni  Lenape  ? 

Pray  tell  me  from  what  languages  are  derived  the  words 
squaw,  sachem,  tomahawk,  calumet,  wampum,  papoose,  which  are 
so  much  in  use  among  us  ?  Are  they  of  the  Delaware  or  the 
Iroquois  stock  ?  I  am,  &c. 


LETTEP    XVIII. 

FROM   MR.  HECKEWELDER. 

BETHLEHEM,  i2th  August,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR. —  I  have  duly  received  your  two  letters  of  the  3ist 
of  July  and  $d  of  August  last.  I  am  much  pleased  with  your 
metaphysical  disquisitions,  as  you  call  them,  and  I  beg  you  will 
indulge  in  them  with  perfect  freedom,  whenever  you  shall  feel 
so  disposed.  I  agree  with  you  that  a  proper  classification  of 
human  languages  would  be  a  very  desirable  object ;  but  I  fear 
the  task  is  too  hard  ever  to  be  accomplished  with  the  limited 
knowledge  of  man.  There  are,  no  doubt,  many  varieties  in  lan 
guage  yet  to  be  discovered. 

As  you  wish  to  be  acquainted  with  the  manner  in  which  our 
North  American  Indians  compound  their  words,  I  shall  endeav 
our  to  satisfy  you  as  well  as  I  am  able.  The  process  is  much 
the  same  as  that  which  Egede  has  described  with  respect  to  the 
Greenland  language,  and  this  strongly  corroborates  your  opinion 
respecting  the  similarity  of  forms  of  at  least  of  those  of  North 
America.  In  the  Delaware  and  other  languages  that  I  am  ac 
quainted  with,  parts  or  parcels  of  different  words,  sometimes  a 


396  CORRESPONDENCE  RESPECTING 

single  sound  or  letter,  are  compounded  together,  in  an  artificial 
manner,  so  as  to  avoid  the  meeting  of  harsh  or  disagreeable 
sounds,  and  make  the  whole  word  fall  in  a  pleasant  manner 
upon  the  ear.  You  will  easily  conceive  that  words  may  thus 
be  compounded  and  multiplied  without  end,  and  hence  the  pecu 
liar  richness  of  the  American  languages.  Of  this  I  can  give  you 
numerous  examples.  In  the  first  place,  the  word  "nadholineen." 
It  is  a  simple  short  word,  but  means  a  great  deal.  The  ideas 
that  are  conveyed  by  it  are  these :  "  Come  with  the  canoe  and 
take  us  across  the  river  or  stream."  Its  component  parts  are  as 
follows:  The  first  syllable  "  nad"  is  derived  from  the  verb  "na- 
tcn"  to  fetch;  the  second,  "hoi"  from  "  amocliol"  a  canoe  or 
boat;  "ineen"  is  the  verbal  termination  for  "us"  as  in  milineen, 
"  give  us  ;  "  —  the  simple  ideas,  therefore,  contained  in  this  word, 
are  "fetch  canoe  us"  but  in  its  usual  and  common  acceptation  it 
means,  "  come  and  fetch  us  across  the  river  with  a  canoe."  I 
need  not  say  that  this  verb  is  conjugated  through  all  its  moods 
and  tenses.  Nadholawall  is  the  form  of  the  third  person  of  the 
singular  of  the  indicative  present,  and  means  "  He  is  fetched 
over  the  river  with  a  canoe,"  or  simply,  "  He  is  fetched  over 
the  river." 

From  wimipach,  a  leaf,  nach,  a  hand,  and  qidrn,  a  nut  growing 
on  a  tree  (for  there  is  a  peculiar  word  to  express  nuts  of  this 
description  and  distinguish  them  from  other  nuts)  is  formed 
wunachquim,  an  acorn,  and  the  ideas  which  by  this  name  are 
intended  to  be  conveyed  are  these:  "The  nut  of  the  tree  the 
leaves  of  which  resemble  a  hand,  or  have  upon  them  the  form 
of  a  hand."  If  you  will  take  the  trouble  to  examine  the  leaves 
of  an  oak  tree,  you  will  find  on  them  the  form  of  a  hand  with 
outspread  fingers.  On  the  same  principle  are  formed 

M'sim,  hickory  nut. 

Ptucquim,  walnut. 

Wapim,  chestnut. 

Schauwemin,  beech  nut,  and  many  others. 

The  tree  which  we  call  "  Spanish  oak"  remarkable  for  the 
largeness  of  its  leaves,  they  call  "AmanganaschquiminsM"  "  the 
tree  which  has  the  largest  leaves  shaped  like  a  hand."  If  I  were 
to  imitate  the  composition  of  this  word  in  English  and  apply  it 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  397 

to  our  language,  I  would  say  Largehandleafnuttree,  and  softening 
the  sounds  after  the  Indian  manner,  it  would  perhaps  make 
Larjandliff entree >  or  Larjandlennuttree^  or  something  like  it.  Of 
course,  in  framing  the  word,  an  English  ear  should  be  consulted. 
The  last  syllable  of  that  which  I  have  last  cited,  is  not  taken 
from  the  proper  name  for  tree,  which  is  hittuck  ;  but  from  "  ach- 
pansi"  *  which  means  the  "  stock,  trunk  or  body  of  a  tree"  (in 
German  "  der  stamm  ").  The  last  syllable  of  this  word,  "  si"  is 
in  its  compound  converted  into  scki,  probably  for  the  sake  of 
euphony,  of  which  an  Indian  ear  in  this  case  is  the  best  judge. 

Again,  "nanayunges"  in  Delaware  means  "a  horse."  It  is 
formed  from  awesis,  a  beast,  from  which  the  last  syllable  es  is 
taken,  and  nayundam,  to  carry  a  burden  on  the  back  or  shoulders  ; 
for  when  something  is  carried  in  the  hands  or  arms,  the  proper 
verb  is  '* gelenummen"  The  word  which  signifies  "horse,"  there 
fore,  literally  means,  "  the  beast  which  carries  on  its  back,"  or 
in  other  words,  "a  beast  of  burden."  Were  asses  or  camels 
known  to  the  Indians,  distinctive  appellations  for  them  would 
soon  and  easily  be  formed. 

Thus  much  for  the  names  of  natural  substances,  and  words 
which  relate  to  visible  objects.  Let  us  now  turn  to  the  expres 
sion  of  ideas  which  affect  the  moral  sense. 

You  will  remember  that  I  have  told  you  before  that  "  wulik  " 
or  "  vwilit"  signifies  "good,"  and  in  the  various  derivations  which 
flow  from  it  means  almost  every  thing  that  is  good,  just,  proper, 
decent,  pleasing  or  agreeable.  When  an  Indian  wishes  to  ex 
press  that  he  is  pleased  with  something  that  you  have  told  him, 
he  will  say  in  his  metaphorical  language  :  "  You  have  spoken 
good  words."  Now  let  us  see  how  this  compound  idea  is  ex 
pressed.  "  Kolamoe  "  is  one  of  the  forms  of  the  past  tense  of  a 
verb  which  means  "  to  speak  the  truth,"  and  properly  translated 
signifies  "  thou  hast  spoken  the  truth,"  or  "  thou  hast  spoken 
good  words."  K,  from  ki,  expresses  the  second  person,  "  ola" 
is  derived  from  wulit  and  conveys  the  idea  of  good  ;  the  rest  of 
the  word  implies  the  action  of  speaking. 

In  the  third  person,  "  wulamoe "  means  "  he  has  spoken  the 

1  For  ft  ackpansi"  read  " achpanschi" 


398  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

truth ; "  from  which  is  formed  the  noun  substantive  wulamoewagan, 
"  the  truth :  "  zvagan  or  woagan  (as  our  German  Missionaries 
sometimes  write  it  to  express  the  sound  of  the  English  w)  being 
a  termination  which  answers  to  that  of  "  ness  "  in  English,  and 
" heit"  or  " keit"  in  German.  Pursuing  further  the  same  chain 
of  ideas',  wulistamoewagan  or  wulamhittamoewagan,  means  "  faith" 
or  "  belief,"  the  belief  of  what  a  man  has  seen  or  heard  ;  for  glis- 
tam  is  a  verb  which  signifies  "  to  hear,  hearken,  listen ;  "  hence 
"  wulista"  believe  it,  wulistamt  he  believes  ;  wulisto,  believe  ye, 
&c.  The  Indians  say  klistcrcvi !  hear  me!  nolsittammen,  I  be 
lieve  it ;  ammen  or  tammen  abridged  from  Jdttainmen,  where  they 
are  employed  as  terminations,  mean  "  to  do,  perform,  adopt" 
See  what  a  number  of  ideas  are  connected  together  in  single 
words,  and  with  what  regularity  they  are  compounded,  with 
proper  terminations  indicating  the  part  of  speech,  form,  mood, 
tense,  number  and  person,  that  they  respectively  belong  to  ! 
The  various  shades  of  thought  that  those  different  modes  of 
speech  discriminate  are  almost  innumerable ;  for  instance,  wulis- 
tammen  means  simply  to  believe :  wulamsittammen  to  believe 
with  full  conviction.  I  would  never  have  done,  if  I  were  to  point 
out  to  you  all  the  derivatives  from  this  source,  or  connected  with 
the  idea  of  belief,  which  word  I  bring  forward  merely  by  way  of 
example,  there  being  many  others  equally  fruitful.  There  is 
wulamoinaquot,  credible,  worthy  of  belief  (sometimes  used  as  an 
impersonal  verb,  "  it  is  credible,  it  deserves  to  be  believed ") ; 
welsittawot)  a  believer;  welsittank,  a  believer  in  the  religious 
sense,  &c. 

The  syllable  pal  or /^/prefixed  to  some  words,  implies  denial, 
and  also  frequently  denotes  wrong  and  is  taken  in  a  bad  sense. 
Hence  palsittamoewagan,  unbelief;  palsittammen,  to  disbelieve ; 
pelsittank,  an  unbeliever;  pelsittangik,  unbelievers.  Again,  pal- 
hwi,  otherwise ;  palliton,  to  spoil,  to  do  something  wrong ;  pal- 
hiken,  to  make  a  bad  shot,  to  miss  the  mark  in  shooting ;  palhit- 
echen,  to  aim  a  stroke  and  miss  it;  pallahammen,  to  miss  in 
shooting  &  game  ;  pallilissin,  to  do  something  amiss  or  wrong. 

M.  de  Volney  has  very  justly  observed  on  the  Miami  lan 
guage,  which  is  a  dialect  of  the  Lenape,  that  m  at  the  beginning 
of  a  word  implies  in  general  something  bad  or  ugly.  It  is  cer- 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  399 

tainly  so  in  the  Delaware,  though  not  without  exceptions,  for 
mannitto,  a  spirit,  by  which  name  God  himself,  the  great  and 
good  Spirit  is  called,  begins  with  that  ill-pmened  letter.  Never 
theless  the  words  "  machit"  bad,  and  "  medhick"  evil,  have'pro- 
duced  many  derivatives,  or  words  beginning  with  the  syllables 
med,  mack,  mat,  mm,  me,  mas,  &c.,  all  of  which  imply  something 
bad,  and  are  taken  in  a  bad  sense.  For  instance,  mekih  and 
melih,  corruption ;  machtando,  the  devil ;  machtageen,  to  fight, 
kill;  machtapan,  a  bad,  unpleasant  morning;  machtapeek,  bad 
time,  time  of  war;  machtonquam,  to  have  a  bad  dream,  &c.  I 
mention  this  merely  to  do  justice  to  the  sagacity  of  M.  Volney, 
whose  few  observations  upon  the  Indians  induce  us  to  regret  that 
he  was  not  in  a  situation  to  make  more. 

I  begin  to  feel  fatigued,  and  therefore  shall  take  leave  of  you 
for  the  present  and  reserve  the  remainder  of  my  answer  for  my 
next  letter.  I  am,  &c. 


LETTER   XIX. 

FROM  THE  SAME. 

BETHLEHEM,  i5th  August,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR. —  I  sit  down  to  conclude  my  answer  to  your  letter 
of  the  3d  inst. 

Before  I  begin  this  task,  let  me  give  you  some  examples  that 
now  occur  to  me  to  shew  the  regularity  of  the  formation  of  In 
dian  words. 

1.  The  names  of  reptiles  generally  end  in  gook  or  gookses. 
Achgook,  a  snake. 

Suckachgook,  a  black  snake  (from  suck  or  suckeu,  black.) 
Mamalachgook,  spotted  snake. 
Asgaskachgook,  green  snake. 

2.  The  names  of  fishes  in  meek  (Namtzs,  a  fish.) 
Maschilameek,  a  trout  (spotted  fish.) 
Wisameek,  cat-fish  (the  fat  fish.) 
Suckameek,  black  fish. 

Lennameek,  chub  fish. 


4OO  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

3.  The  names  of  other  animals,  have  in  the  same  manner 
regular  terminations,  ap,  or  ape,  for  walking  in  an  erect  posture ; 
hence  lenape,  man  ;  chum,  for  four-legged  animals,  and  wehelleu, 
for  the  winged  tribes.  I  need  not  swell  this  letter  with  exam- 
.ples,  which  would  add  nothing  to  your  knowledge  of  the  prin 
ciple  which  I  have  sufficiently  explained. 

I  now  proceed  to  answer  your  letter. 

Notwithstanding  Mr.  Edwards's  observation  (for  whom  I  feel 
the  highest  respect),  I  cannot  help  being  of  opinion,  that  the 
monosyllable  ooch,  is  the  proper  word  for  father,  abstractedly 
considered,  and  that  it  is  as  proper  to  say  ooch,  father,  and  nooch, 
my  father,  as  dallemons,  beast,  and  rfdallemons,  my  beast;  or 
nitschan,  child,  or  a  child,  and  rinitschan,  my  child.  It  is  certain, 
however,  that  there  are  few  occasions  for  using  these  words  in 
their  abstract  sense,  as  there  are  so  many  ways  of  associating 
them  with  other  ideas.  Wetoochwink  and  wetochemuxit  both 
mean  "  the  father,"  in  a  more  definite  sense,  and  wetochemelenk 
is  used  in  the  vocative  sense,  and  means  "  thou  our  father."  I 
once  heard  Captain  Pipe,  a  celebrated  Indian  chief,  address  the 
British  commandant  at  Detroit,  and  he  said  nooch  !  my  father ! 

The  shades  of  difference  between  these  several  expressions  are 
so  nice  and  delicate,  that  I  feel  great  difficulty  in  endeavouring 
to  explain  them.  Wetochemuxit,  I  conceive  to  be  more  properly 
applicable  to  the  heavenly  Father,  than  to  an  earthly  one.  It 
implies  an  idea  of  power  and  authority  over  his  children,  superior 
to  that  of  mere  procreation,  therefore  I  think  it  fittest  to  be  used 
in  prayer  and  worship.  Wetoochwink,  on  the  contrary,  by  the 
syllable  we  or  wet,  prefixed  to  it,  implies  progeny  and  ownership 
over  it ;  *  and  wink  or  ink  conveys  the  idea  of  the  actual  exist 
ence  of  that  progeny.  Yet  Mr.  Zeisberger,  who  well  understood 
the  language,  has  used  wetoochwink  in  the  spiritual  sense.  Thus, 
in  his  Delaware  Hymn  Book,2  you  find,  page  15,  Pennamook 
Wetoochwink  milquenk !  which  is  in  English  "  Behold  what  the 

1  Wenitschanit,  the  parent  or  owner  of  a  child  naturally  begotten ;  wetallemansit, 
the  owner  of  the  beast. 

2  \A  Collection  of  Hymns,  for  the  use  of  the  Christian  Indians  of  the  Missions  of 
the  United  Brethren,  in  North  America.     Philadelphia :  Printed  by  Henry  Sweitzer, 
at  the  corner  of  Race  and  Fourth  Streets,  1803.     A  second  edition  of  this  work 
abridged,  and  edited  by  the  Rev.  Abraham  Luckenbach,  was  published  at  Bethlehem 
in  1847.] 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  4<DI 

Father  has  given  us !  "  Again,  in  the  same  book,  page  32,  we 
read,  "Hallewiwi  wetockemuxit"  which  means  "  The  Father  of 
Eternity."  Upon  the  whole  I  believe  that  ooch  is  a  proper 
word  for  "  father  "  or  "  a  father,"  but  wetoochwink  may  also  be 
used  in  the  same  sense,  notwithstanding  its  more  definite  general 
acceptation.  There  is  little  occasion,  however,  to  use  either 
with  this  abstract  indefinite  meaning. 

I  agree  with  you  that  lenni,  lenno,  illenoh,  illenou,  Illinois,  appear 
to  have  all  the  same  derivation,  and  to  be  connected  with  the 
idea  of  man,  nation,  or  people.  Lenno,  in  the  Delaware  language, 
signifies  man,  and  so  does  Lenape,  in  a  more  extended  sense. 
In  the  name  of  the  Lenni  Lenape,  it  signifies  people ;  but  the 
word  lenni t  which  precedes  it,  has  a  different  signification  and 
means  original,  and  sometimes  common,  plain,  pure,  unmixed. 
Under  this  general  description  the  Indians  comprehend  all  that 
they  believe  to  have  been  first  created  in  the  origin  of  things. 
To  all  such  things  they  prefix  the  word  lenni ;  as,  for  instance, 
when  they  speak  of  high  lands,  they  say  lenni  hacki  (original 
lands),  but  they  do  not  apply  the  same  epithet  to  low  lands, 
which  being  generally  formed  by  the  overflowing  or  washing  of 
rivers,  cannot,  therefore,  be  called  original.  Trees  which  grow 
on  high  lands  are  also  called  lenni  hittuck,  original  trees.  In  the 
same  manner  they  designate  Indian  corn,  pumpkins,  squashes, 
beans,  tobacco,  &c.,  all  which  they  think  were  given  by  the 
Great  Spirit  for  their  use,  from  the  beginning.  Thus,  they  call 
Indian  corn1  lencliasqueem,  from  lenni  and  chasqueem ;  beans, 
lenalachksilal,  from  lenni  and  malachksital ;  tobacco,  lenkschatey, 
from  lenni  and  kschatey ;  which  is  the  same  as  if  they  said  origi 
nal  corn,  original  beans,  original  tobacco.  They  call  the  linden  tree 
lennikby,  from  lenni  and  wikby  ;  the  last  word  by  itself  meaning 
"  the  tree  whose  bark  peels  freely,"  as  the  bark  of  that  tree 
peels  off  easily  all  the  year  round.  This  bark  is  made  use  of  as  a 
rope  for  tying  and  also  for  building  their  huts,  the  roof  and  sides 
of  which  are  made  of  it.  A  house  thus  built  is  called  lennikgawon, 
"original  house  or  hut,"  from  lennikby,  original,  or  linden  tree, 
wikheen,  to  build,  and  jagawon  or  yagaivon,  a  house  with  a  flat 
roof.  It  is  as  if  they  said  "a  house  built  of  original  materials." 

1  For  "  Indian  corn  "  read  "  a  particular  species  of  Indian  corn" 
26 


4O2  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

Lcnnasqual,  in  the  Minsi  dialect,  means  a  kind  of  grass  which 
is  supposed  to  have  grown  on  the  land  from  the  beginning. 
English  grasses,  as  timothy,  &c.,  they  call  schwamiockasqiiall, 
or  white  men's  grass.  The  chub  fish  they  call  lennameek,  be 
cause,  say  they,  this  fish  is  in  all  fresh  water  or  streams,  whereas 
other  fish  are  confined  to  certain  particular  waters  or  climates. 

They  also  say  lenni  iribi,  "pure  water;"  leneyacJikhican,  a 
fowling  piece,  as  distinguished  from  a  rifle,  because  it  was  the 
first  fire-arm  they  ever  saw  ;  a  rifle  they  call  tetupalachgat.  They 
say,  lenaclisinnall,  "  common  stones,"  because  stones  are  found 
every  where,  lenachpoan,  "  common  bread,"  (achpoan  means 
"bread");  lenachgook,  a  common  snake,  such  as  is  seen  every 
where  (from  achgookt  a  snake) ;  lenchum,  the  original,  common 
dog,  not  one  of  the  species  brought  into  the  country  by  the 
white  people.  I  think  I  have  sufficiently  explained  the  name 
"  Lenni  Lenape" 

As  I  do  not  know  the  Greenland  language,  I  cannot  say  how 
far  the  word  "  innuit"  is  connected  with  lenni  or  Icnno,  or  any 
of  the  words  or  names  derived  from  them. 

The  words  squaw,  sachem,  tomahawk,  and  wigwam^  are  words 
of  Delaware  stock,  somewhat  corrupted  by  the  English.  Ochqiteu, 
woman ;  sakima,  chief;  tamahican,  hatchet ; 1  wickwam  (both 
syllables  long,  as  in  English  weekwawm),  a  house.  Hence,  nik, 
my  house ;  kik,  thy  house ;  wikit,  his  house ;  wikichtit,  their 
houses  ;  wikta,  at  my  house  ;  wiquahemink,  in  the  house  ;  again, 
wickheen,  to  build  a  house  ;  wikhitschik,  the  builders  of  a  house ; 
wikheu,  he  is  building  a  house ;  wikJietamok,  let  us  build  a 
house ;  ivikheek  (imperative),  build  a  house ;  wikhattoak,  they 
are  building  (a  house  or  houses). 

Calumet  is  not  an  Indian  word  ;  M.  Volney  thinks  it  is  an 
English  word  for  a  tobacco  pipe  ;  it  is  certainly  not  proper  Eng 
lish,  but  I  have  always  thought  that  it  was  first  used  by  the 
English  or  the  French.  The  Delaware  for  a  tobacco  pipe  is 
Poakan  (two  syllables). 

Wampum  is  an  Iroquois  word,  and  means  a  marine  shell. 

1  All  words  ending  in  ican,hican,  kschican,  denote  a  sharp  instrument  for  cutting. 
Pachkschican,  a  knife  ;  'pkuschican,  a  gimlet,,  an  instrument  which  cuts  into  holes ; 
tangamican,  or  tangandican,  a  spear,  a  sharp-pointed  instrument;  poyachkican,  a 
gun,  or  an  instrument  that  cuts  with  force. 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  403 

Papoose,  I  do  not  know ;  it  is  not  a  word  of  the  Delaware 
language,  yet  it  is  possible  that  it  may  be  used  by  some  Indian 
nations,  from  whom  we  may  have  borrowed  it.  I  have  been 
told  that  the  Mahicanni  of  New  England  made  use  of  this  word 
for  a  child.  I  am,  &c. 


LETTER   XX. 

TO  MR.  HECKEWELDER. 

PHILADELPHIA,  2ist  August,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR. — I  have  read  with  the  greatest  pleasure  your  two  in 
teresting  letters  of  the  I2th  and  I5th.  I  need  not  tell  you  how 
pleased  the  Historical  Committee  are  with  your  correspondence, 
which  is  laid  before  them  from  time  to  time.  I  am  instructed  to  do 
all  in  my  power  to  induce  you  to  persevere  in  giving  to  your  country 
the  so  much  wanted  information  concerning  the  Indians  and  their 
languages.  The  Committee  are  convinced  that  the  first  duty 
of  an  American  Scientific  Association  is  to  occupy  themselves 
with  the  objects  that  relate  to  our  own  country.  It  is  on  these 
subjects  that  the  world  has  a  right  to  expect  instruction  from  us. 

I  am  busily  employed  in  studying  and  translating  the  excel 
lent  Delaware  Grammar  of  Mr.  Zeisberger;  I  hope  the  Histor 
ical  Committee  will  publish  it  in  due  time.  The  more  I  become 
acquainted  with  this  extraordinary  language,  the  more  I  am  de 
lighted  with  its  copiousness  and  with  the  beauty  of  its  forms. 
Those  which  the  Hispano-Mexican  Grammarians  call  transitions 
are  really  admirable.  If  this  language  was  cultivated  and  pol 
ished  as  those  of  Europe  have  been,  and  if  the  Delawares  had 
a  Homer  or  Virgil  among  them,  it  is  impossible  to  say  with  such 
an  instrument  how  far  the  art  could  be  carried.  The  Greek  is 
admired  for  its  compounds  ;  but  what  are  they  to  those  of  the 
Indians?  How  many  ideas  they  can  combine  and  express  to 
gether  in  one  single  locution,  and  that  too  by  a  regular  series 
of  grammatical  forms,  by  innumerably  varied  inflexions  of  the 
same  radical  word,  with  the  help  of  pronominal  affixes !  All 
this,  my  dear  sir,  is  combined  with  the  most  exquisite  skill,  in 
a  perfectly  regular  order  and  method,  and  with  fewer  exceptions 


404  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

or  anomalies  than  I  have  found  in  any  other  language.  This  is 
what  really  astonishes  me,  and  it  is  with  the  greatest  difficulty 
that  I  can  guard  myself  against  enthusiastic  feelings.  The  verb, 
among  the  Indians,  is  truly  the  word  by  way  of  excellence.  It 
combines  itself  with  the  pronoun,  with  the  adjective,  with  the 
adverb  ;  in  short,  with  almost  every  part  of  speech.  There  are 
forms  both  positive  and  negative  which  include  the  two  pro 
nouns,  the  governing  and  the  governed ;  ktahoatell?  "  I  love 
thee  ;  "  ktahoalowi,  "  I  do  not  love  thee."  The  adverb  "  not," 
is  comprised  both  actively  and  passively  in  the  negative  forms, 
n'dahoalawi,  "I  do  not  love;"  n '  dahoalgnssi wi,  "I  am  not 
loved ; "  and  other  adverbs  are  combined  in  a  similar  manner. 
From  schingi,  "unwillingly,"  is  formed  schingattam,  "  to  be  un 
willing,"  schingoochwcn,  "to  go  somewhere  unwillingly,"  schin- 
gimikemossin,  "  to  work  unwillingly  ;  "  from  wingi,  "  willingly," 
we  have  wingsittamt  "to  hear  willingly,"  wingachpin,  "to  be 
willingly  somewhere,"  wingilauchsin,  "  to  live  willingly  in  a  par 
ticular  manner;"  from  the  adverb  gimich*  "long,"  comes  gune- 
lendam,  "to  think  one  takes  long  to  do  something;"  gunagen, 
"to  stay  out  long  ;  "  and  so  are  formed  all  the  rest  of  the  nume 
rous  class  of  adverbial  verbs.  The  adjective  verbs  are  produced 
in  the  same  way,  by  a  combination  of  adjective  nouns  with  the 
verbal  form.  Does  gunen  mean  "  long  "  in  the  adjective  sense, 
you  have  guneep,  it  was  long,  guneuchtschi,  it  will  be  long,  &c. ; 
from  kschiechekj  "  clean,"  is  formed  kschiecheep,  "  it  was  clean ;  " 
from  machkeu,  "  red,"  machkeep,  "  it  was  red  ;  "  and  so  on  through 
the  whole  class  of  words.  Prepositions  are  combined  in  the 
same  manner,  but  that  is  common  also  to  other  languages. 
What  extent  and  variety  displays  itself  in  those  Indian  verbs, 
and  what  language,  in  this  respect,  can  be  compared  to  our  sav 
age  idioms  ? 

Nor  are  the  participles  less  rich  or  less  copious.  Every  verb 
has  a  long  series  of  participles,  which  when  necessary  can  be 
declined  and  used  as  adjectives.  Let  me  be  permitted  to  in 
stance  a  few  from  the  causative  verb  widamalessohen,  "  to  make 
happy."  I  take  them  from  Zeisberger. 

1  For  "Ktahoatell"  read  " Ktahoalell." 

2  For  "gunich"  read  " gunih" 


THE     INDIAN     LANGUAGES.  405 

Wulamalessohaluwed,  he  who  makes  happy. 
Wulamalessohalid,  he  who  makes  me  happy. 
Wulamalessohalquon,  he  who  makes  thee  happy. 
Wulamalessohalat,  he  who  makes  him  happy. 
Wulamalessohalquenk,  he  who  makes  us  happy. 
Wulamalessohalqueek,  he  who  makes  you  happy. 
Wulamalessohalquichtit,  he  w/w  makes  them  happy. 

Now  comes  another  participial -pronominal -vocative  form; 
which  may  in  the  same  manner  be  conjugated  through  all  the 
objective  persons.  Wulamalessolialian !  THOU  WHO  MAKEST  ME 
HAPPY  ! 

I  will  not  proceed  further;  but  permit  me  to  ask  you,  my  dear 
sir,  what  would  Tibullus  or  Sappho  have  given  to  have  had  at 
their  command  a  word  at  once  so  tender  and  so  expressive  ? 
How  delighted  would  be  Moore,  the  poet  of  the  loves  and 
graces,  if  his  language,  instead  of  five  .or  six  tedious  words 
slowly  following  in  the  rear  of  each  other,  had  furnished  him 
with  an  expression  like  this,  in  which  the  lover,  the  object  be 
loved,  and  the  delicious  sentiment  which  their  mutual  passion 
inspires,  are  blended,  are  fused  together  in  one  comprehensive 
appellative  term  ?  And  it  is  in  the  languages  of  savages  that 
these  beautiful  forms  are  found!  What  a  subject  for  reflection, 
and  how  little  do  we  know,  as  yet,  of  the  astonishing  things 
that  the  world  contains  ! 

In  the  course  of  my  reading,  I  have  often  seen  the  question 
discussed  which  of  the  two  classes  of  languages,  the  analytical 
or  the  synthetical  (as  I  call  them),  is  the  most  perfect  or  is  prefer 
able  to  the  other.  Formerly  there  seemed  to  be  but  one  senti 
ment  on  the  subject,  for  who  cannot  perceive  the  superiority  of 
the  Latin  and  Greek,  over  the  modern  mixed  dialects  which  at 
present  prevail  in  Europe  ?  But  we  live  in  the  age  of  paradoxes, 
and  there  is  no  opinion,  however  extraordinary,  that  does  not 
find  supporters.  To  me  it  would  appear  that  the  perfection  of 
language  consists  in  being  able  to  express  much  in  a  few  words ; 
to  raise  at  once  in  the  mind  by  a  few  magic  sounds,  whole 
masses  of  thoughts  which  strike  by  a  kind  of  instantaneous  in 
tuition.  Such  in  its  effects  must  be  the  medium  by  which  im- 


406  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

mortal  spirits  communicate  with  each  other;  such,  I  should 
think,  were  I  disposed  to  indulge  in  fanciful  theories,  must 
have  been  the  language  first  taught  to  mankind  by  the  great 
author  of  all  perfection. 

All  this  would  probably  be  admitted  if  the  Latin  and  Greek 
were  only  in  question  :  for  their  supremacy  seems  to  stand  on 
an  ancient  legitimate  title  not  easy  to  be  shaken,  and  there  is 
still  a  strong  prepossession  in  the  minds  of  the  learned  in  favour 
of  the  languages  in  which  Homer  and  Virgil  sang.  But  since  it 
has  been  discovered  that  the  barbarous  dialects  of  savage  nations 
are  formed  on  the  same  principle  with  the  classical  idioms,  and 
that  the  application  of  this  principle  is  even  carried  in  them  to 
a  still  greater  extent,  it  has  been  found  easier  to  ascribe  the  beau 
tiful  organisation  of  these  languages  to  stupidity  and  barbarism, 
than  to  acknowledge  our  ignorance  of  the  manner  in  which  it 
has  been  produced.  Philosophers  have  therefore  set  themselves 
to  work  in  order  to  prove  that  those  admirable  combinations  of 
ideas  in  the  form  of  words,  which  in  the  ancient  languages  of 
Europe  used  to  be  considered  as  some  of  the  greatest  efforts  of 
the  human  mind,  proceed  in  the  savage  idioms  from  the  absence 
or  weakness  of  mental  powers  in  those  who  originally  framed 
them. 

Among  those  philosophers  the  celebrated  Dr.  Adam  Smith 
stands  pre-eminent.  In  an  elegant  treatise  on  the  origin  and 
formation  of  language,  he  has  endeavoured  to  shew  that  syn 
thetical  forms  of  speech  were  the  first  rude  attempts  which  men 
made  to  communicate  their  ideas,  and  that  they  employed  com 
prehensive  and  generic  terms,  because  their  minds  had  not  yet 
acquired  the  powers  of  analysis  and  were  not  capable  of  discrim 
inating  between  different  objects.  Hence,  he  says  every  river 
among  primitive  men  was  the  river,  every  mountain  the  moun 
tain,  and  it  was  very  long  before  they  learned  to  distinguish 
them  by  particular  names.  On  the  same  principle,  he  con 
tinues,  men  said  in  one  word  plnit  (it  rains,)  before  they  could 
so  separate  their  confused  ideas  as  to  say  the  rain  or  the  water 
is  falling.  Such  is  the  sense  and  spirit  of  his  positions,  which 
I  quote  from  memory. 

This  theory  is  certainly  very  ingenious ;  it  is  only  unfortunate 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  407 

that  it  does  not  accord  with  facts,  as  far  as  our  observations  can 
trace  them.  You  have  shown  that  the  comprehensive  compounds 
of  the  Delaware  idiom  are  formed  out  of  other  words  expressive 
of  single  ideas ;  these  simple  words,  therefore,  must  have  been 
invented  before  they  were  compounded  into  others,  and  thus 
analysis  presided  over  the  first  formation  of  the  language.  So 
far,  at  least,  Dr.  Smith's  theory  falls  to  the  ground  ;  nor  does  he 
appear  to  be  better  supported  in  his  supposition  of  the  pre-exist- 
ence  of  generic  terms.  For  Dr.  Wistar  has  told  me,  and  quotes 
your  authority  for  it,  that  such  are  seldom  in  use  among  the 
Indians,  and  that  when  a  stranger  pointing  to  an  object  asks 
how  it  is  called,  he  will  not  be  told  a  tree,  a  river,  a  mountain, 
but  an  ash,  an  oak,  a  beech ;  the  Delaware,  the  Mississippi,  the 
Allegheny.  If  this  fact  is  correctly  stated,  it  is  clear  that  among 
those  original  people  every  tree  is  not  tJie  tree,  and  every  moun 
tain  the  mountain,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  everything  is  in 
preference  distinguished  by  its  specific  name. 

It  is  no  argument,  therefore,  against  the  synthetical  forms  of 
language,  that  they  are  in  use  among  savage  nations.  However 
barbarous  may  be  the  people  by  whom  they  are  employed,  I 
acknowledge  that  I  can  see  nothing  barbarous  in  them,  but  think, 
on  the  contrary,  that  they  add  much  to  the  beauty  of  speech. 
This  is  neither  the  time  nor  the  place  to  enter  into  an  elaborate 
discussion  of  this  subject,  but  I  beg  leave  to  be  allowed  to  illus 
trate  and  support  my  opinion  by  a  lively  example  taken  from 
the  Latin  tongue. 

Suetonius  relates  that  the  Roman  Emperor  Claudius  (one  of 
the  most  barbarous  tyrants  that  ever  existed,)  once  gave  to  his 
courtiers  the  spectacle  of  a  naval  combat  on  the  Fucine  lake,  to 
be  seriously  performed  by  gladrators.  When  the  poor  fellows 
saw  the  Emperor  approaching,  they  hailed  him  with  "  Ave,  Im- 
perator,  MORITURI  te  salutant !  "  In  English  this  means,  "  Hail, 
Caesar  !  THOSE  WHO  ARE  GOING  TO  DIE  salute  thee  !  "  The  tyrant 
was  so  moved,  or  rather  struck  with  this  unexpected  address, 
that  before  he  had  time  to  reflect  he  returned  the  salutation 
Avete  vos  !  "  Fare  ye  well  !  "  This  gracious  reply,  from  the  mouth 
of  an  Emperor,  amounted  to  a  pardon,  and  the  gladiators,  in 
consequence,  refused  to  fight.  But  the  monster  soon  returned 


4O8  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

to  his  natural  ferocity,  and  after  hesitating  for  a  while  whether  he 
would  destroy  them  all  by  fire  and  sword,  he  rose  from  his  seat, 
and  ran  staggering  along  the  banks  of  the  lake,  in  the  most  dis 
gusting  agitation,  and  at  last,  partly  by  exhortations  and  partly 
by  threats,  compelled  them  to  fight.1  Thus  far  Suetonius. 

Now,  my  dear  sir,  I  put  the  question  to  you  ;  if  the  gladiators, 
instead  of  moritiiri,  had  said  in  English  those  who  arc  about  or 
going  to  die  ;  would  the  Emperor  even  have  hesitated  for  a  mo 
ment,  and  would  he  not  at  once  have  ordered  those  men  to  fight 
on?  In  the  word  moriturit  he. was  struck  at  the  first  moment 
with  the  terrible  idea  of  death  placed  in  full  front  by  means  of  the 
syllable  MOR  ;  while  the  future  termination  ITURI  with  the  accessory 
ideas  that  it  involves  was  calculated  to  produce  a  feeling  of  tender 
compassion  on  his  already  powerfully  agitated  mind,  and  in  fact 
did  produce  it,  though  it  lasted  only  a  short  time.  But  if,  instead 
of  this  rapid  succession  of  strong  images,  he  had  been  assailed 
at  first  with  five  insignificant  words  Those  —  who — are — going 
—  to,  foreseeing  what  was  about  to  follow,  he  would  have  had 
time  to  make  up  his  mind  before  the  sentence  had  been  quite 
pronounced,  and  I  doubt  much  whether  the  gladiators  would 
have  been  allowed  time  to  finish  it.  In  German,  Diejenigen 
welche  am  sterben  sind,  would  have  produced  much  the  same  ef 
fect,  from  the  length  of  the  words  dicjenigen  and  welche,  which 
have  no  definite  meaning,  and  could  in  no  manner  have  affected 
the  feelings  of  the  tyrant  Claudius.  Ceux  qid  vont  mourir,  in 
French,  is  somewhat  shorter,  but  in  none  of  the  modern  lan 
guages  do  I  find  anything  that  operates  on  my  mind  like  the 
terrible  and  pathetic  moritiiri.  May  we  not  exclaim  here  with 
the  great  Gcethe  :  0,  cine  Nation  ist  zu  beneidcn,  die  so  feme  Schat- 
timngen  in  einem  Worte  auszudruecken  wciss  /  "O,  how  a  nation 
is  to  be  envied,  that  can  express  such  delicate  shades  of  thought 
in  one  single  word!"2 

1  Quin  et  emissurus  Fucinum  lacum,  naumachiam  ante  commisit.     Sed  cum  proc- 
lamantibus   naumachiariis    "  Ave,    Imperator!    morituri    te    salutant, "  respondisset 
"  Avete  vos!  "  neque  post  hanc  vocem,  quasi  venia  data,  quisquam  dimicare  vellet, 
diu  cunctatus  an  omnes  igni  ferroque  absumeret,  tandem  e  sede  sua  prosiluit,  ac  per 
ambitum  lacus,  non  sine  foeda  vacillatione  discurrens,  partim  minando,  partim  ad- 
hortando,  ad  pugnam  compulit.     Sueton.  in  Claud.  21. 

2  Goethe,  in  Wilhelm  Meister. 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  409 

I  hope,  indeed  I  do  not  doubt,  that  there  is  a  similar  word  in 
the  Delaware  language ;  if  so,  please  to  give  it  to  me  with  a  full 
explanation  of  its  construction  and  meaning. 

I  thank  you  very  much  for  the  valuable  information  you  have 
given  on  the  subject  of  the  word  "father ;  "  the  distinction  be 
tween  wetochemuxit,  and  wetoochwink,  appears  to  me  beautiful,  and 
Zeisberger  seems  to  have  perfectly  understood  it.  When  he 
makes  use  of  the  first  of  these  words,  he  displays  the  "  Father 
of  Eternity"  in  all  his  glory;  but  when  he  says,  "  Behold  what 
the  Father  has  given  us!"  he  employs  the  word  wetoochwinkt 
which  conveys  the  idea  of  a  natural  father,  the  better  to  express 
the  paternal  tenderness  of  God  for  his  children.  These  elegant 
shades  of  expression  shew  in  a  very  forcible  manner  the  beauty 
and  copiousness  of  the  Indian  languages,  and  the  extent  and  the 
force  of  that  natural  logic,  of  those  powers  of  feeling  and  dis 
crimination,  and  of  that  innate  sense  of  order,  regularity  and 
method  which  is  possessed  even  by  savage  nations,  and  has  pro 
duced  such  an  admirable  variety  of  modes  of  conveying  human 
thoughts  by  means  of  the  different  organs  and  senses  with  which 
the  Almighty  has  provided  us. 

Will  you  be  so  good  as  to  inform  me  whether  the  Delaware 
language  admits  of  inversions  similar  or  analogous  to  those  of 
the  Latin  tongue ;  and  in  what  order  words  are  in  general  placed 
before  or  after  each  other?  Do  you  say  " bread  give  me"  or 
" give  me  bread"  ?  I  am,  &c. 


LETTER   XXI. 

FROM  MR.  HECKEWELDER. 

BETHLEHEM,  26th  August,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR.  —  Your  letter  of  the  2ist  inst.  has  done  me  the 
greatest  pleasure.  I  see  that  you  enter  the  spirit  of  our  Indian 
languages,  and  that  your  mind  is  struck  with  the  beauty  of  their 
grammatical  forms.  I  am  not  surprised  to  find  that  you  admire 
so  much  wulamalessohalian^  it  is  really  a  fine  expressive  word ; 
but  you  must  not  think  that  it  stands  alone ;  there  are  many 


4IO  CORRESPONDENCE  RESPECTING 

others  equally  beautiful  and  equally  expressive,  and  which  are  at 
the  same  time  so  formed  as  to  please  the  ear.  Such  is  eluwiwu- 
lik,  a  name  which  the  Indians  apply  to  Almighty  God,  and  sig 
nifies  "  the  most  blessed,  the  most  holy,  the  most  excellent,  the 
most  precious."  It  is  compounded  of  allowiwi,  which  signifies 
"more"  and  widik,  the  meaning  of  which  has  been  fully  ex 
plained  in  former  letters.  It  is,  as  it  were  allowiwi  wnlik ;  the 
vowel  a,  in  the  first  word  being  changed  into  e.  By  thus  com 
pounding  this  word  allowiwi  with  others  the  Delawares  have 
formed  a  great  number  of  denominations,  by  which  they  address 
or  designate  the  Supreme  Being,  such  are  : 


lek,1      ) 

.     '  2     >  He  who  is  above  every  thing} 


Eliwulek, 

Allowilen, 

Eluwantowit,4  God  above  all ;  ("  getannitowit "  means  God.) 

Eluwiahoalgussit,  the  beloved  above  all  things. 

Elewassit,5  the  most  powerful,  the  most  majestic. 

Eluwitschanessik,  the  strongest  of  all. 

Eluwikschiechsit,  the  supremely  good? 

Eluwilissit,  the  one  above  all  others  in  goodness. 

I  have  no  doubt  you  will  admire  these  expressions  ;  our  Mis 
sionaries  found  them  of  great  use,  and  considered  them  as  adding 
much  to  the  solemnity  of  divine  service,  and  calculated  to  pro 
mote  and  keep  alive  a  deep  sense  of  devotion  to  the  Supreme 
Being.  I  entirely  agree  with  you  in  your  opinion  of  the  superior 
beauty  of  compound  terms ;  the  Indians  understand  very  well 
how  to  make  use  of  them,  and  a  great  part  of  the  force  and 
energy  of  their  speeches  is  derived  from  that  source  :  it  is  very 
difficult,  I  may  even  say  impossible,  to  convey  either  in  Ger 
man  or  English,  the  whole  impressiveness  of  their  discourses ;  I 
have  often  attempted  it  without  success. 

The  word  "  morituri"  which  you  cite  from  the  Latin,  affords  a 

1  For  " Eliwulek"  read  "  Eluwilek." 

2  For  "Allowilen  "  read  "  Allowilek." 

3  For  the  English  translation  of  these  two  words  substitute  "  the  most  extraordi 
nary,  the  most  -wonderful." 

*  For  "  Eluwantmuit"  read  "  Eluwannittowit." 

5  For  "  Elewassit"  read  "  Ele-wussit:'1 

0  For  "  the  supremely  good"  read  "  the  most  holy  one." 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  411 

very  good  argument  in  support  of  the  position  which  you  have 
taken.  It  is  really  very  affecting,  and  I  am  not  astonished  at 
the  effect  which  it  produced  upon  the  mind  of  the  cruel  emperor. 
We  have  a  similar  word  in  the  Delaware  language,  " Elumiangella  • 
tschik"  "  those  who  are  on  the  point  of  dying,  or  who  are  about 
to  die."  The  first  part  of  it,  elumi,  is  derived  from  the  verb 
n'dallemi,  which  means  "  I  am  going  about "  (something).  N'dal- 
lemi  mikemosi,  "I  am  going  to  work,"  or  "about  to  work." 
N'dallemi  wickheen,  "  I  am  going  to  build."  N'dallemi  angeln, 
"I  am  about  dying,"  or  "going  to  die."  The  second  member 
of  the  word,  that  is  to  say  angel,  comes  from  angeln,  "to  die;  " 
angloagan,  "  death,"  angellopannik,  "  they  are  all  dead."  The 
remainder  is  a  grammatical  form ;  atscht  indicates  the  future 
tense ;  the  last  syllable  z/£,  conveys  the  idea  of  the  personal  pro 
noun  "  they"  Thus  elumiangellatschik,  like  the  Latin  morituri^ 
expresses  in  one  word  "  they  or  those  who  are  going  or  about  to 
die,"  and  in  German  "  Diejenigen  welche  am  sterben  sind" 

I  am  pleased  to  hear  that  you  discover  every  day  new  beauties 
as  you  proceed  with  the  study  of  the  Indian  languages,  and  the 
translation  of  Mr.  Zeisberger's  Grammar.  You  have,  no  doubt, 
taken  notice  of  the  reciprocal  verb  exemplified  in  the  fifth  conju 
gation,  in  the  positive  and  negative  forms  by  "  ahoaltin"  "to 
love  each  other."  Permit  me  to  point  out  to  you  the  regularity 
of  its  structure,  by  merely  conjugating  one  tense  of  it  in  the  two 
forms. 

INDICATIVE    PRESENT. 

Positive  Form. 

N'dahoaltineen,  we  love  one  another. 
K'dahoaltihhimo,  you  love  one  another. 
Ahoaltowak,  they  love  one  another. 

Negative  Form. 

Matta  n'dahoaltiwuneen,  we  do  not  love  one  another. 
Matta  kdahoaltiwihhimo,  you  do  not  love  one  another. 
Matta  ahoaltiwiwak,  they  do  not  love  one  another. 

You  will  find  the  whole  verb  conjugated  in  Zeisberger,  there 
fore  I  shall  not  exemplify  further.  You  see  there  is  no  singular 
voice  in  this  verb,  nor  is  it  susceptible  of  it,  as  it  never  implies 
the  act  of  a  single  person.  In  the  negative  form,  "  matta  "  or 


412  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

"-atta"  is  an  adverb  which  signifies  "no"  or  "not,"  and  is 
always  prefixed ;  but  it  is  not  that  alone  which  indicates  the 
negative  sense  of  the  verb.  It  is  also  pointed  out  by  wu  or  wi, 
which  you  find  interwoven  throughout  the  whole  conjugation, 
the  vowel  immediately  preceding  being  sometimes  changed  for 
the  sake  of  sound,  as  from  "  aholtowak,"  "  they  love  each  other," 
is  formed  "  ahoalt/wiwak,"  "  they  do  not  love  each  other." 

I  will  point  out  further,  if  you  have  not  already  observed  it, 
what  I  am  sure  you  will  think  a  grammatical  curiosity ;  it  is  a 
concordance  in  tense  of  the  adverb  with  the  verb.  Turn  to  the 
future  of  the  same  negative  conjugation  in  Zeisberger,  and  you 
will  find: 

Mattatsch  n'dahoaltiwuneen,  we  shall  or  will  not  love  each  other. 
Mattatsch  k'dahoaltiwihhimo,  you  — 
Mattatsch  ahoaltiwiwak,  they  — 

I  have  said  already  that  atsch  or  tsch  is  a  termination  which  in 
the  conjugation  of  verbs  indicates  the  future  tense.  Sometimes 
it  is  attached  to  the  verb,  as  in  matta  ktahoaliwitsch,  "  thou  shalt 
or  wilt  not  love  me,"  but  it  may  also  be  affixed  to  the  adverb  as 
you  have  seen  above,  by  which  means  a  variety  is  produced 
which  adds  much  to  the  beauty  and  expressiveness  of  the 
language. 

You  have  asked  me  whether  the  Delaware  language  has 
inversions  corresponding  with  those  of  the  Latin?  To  this 
question,  not  being  a  Latin  scholar,  I  am  not  competent  to  give 
an  answer;  I  can  only  say  that  when  the  Indian  is  well  or 
elegantly  spoken,  the  words  are  so  arranged  that  the  prominent 
ideas  stand  in  front  of  the  discourse;  but  in  familiar  conversa 
tion  a  different  order  may  sometimes  be  adopted.  We  say,  in 
Delaware,  Philadelphia  epit,  "  Philadelphia  at,"  and  not,  as  in 
English,  "at  Philadelphia."  We  say  "bread  give  me,"  and  not 
"give  me  bread,"  because  bread  is  the  principal  object  with 
which  the  speaker  means  to  strike  the  mind  of  his  hearer. 

In  the  personal  forms,  or  as  you  call  them,  transitions  of  the 
active  verbs,  the  form  expressive  of  the  pronoun  governed  is 
sometimes  placed  in  the  beginning,  as  in  k'dahoatell,  "  I  love 
thee,"  which  is  the  same  as  thee  I  love ;  for  k  (from  ki),  is  the 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  413 

sign  of  the  second  person ;  sometimes,  however,  the  governing 
pronoun  is  placed  in  front,  as  in  n'dahoala,  "  I  love  him,"  ri  being 
the  sign  of  the  first  person,  I.  In  these  personal  forms  or 
transitions,  one  of  the  pronouns,  governing  or  governed,  is  gen 
erally  expressed  by  its  proper  sign,  »'  for  "  I  "  or  "  me,"  /£'  for 
"  thou  "  or  "  thee,"  and  w*  for  "  he  or  him  ;  "  the  other  pronoun 
is  expressed  by  an  inflexion,  as  in  k'dahoalohhumo,  I  love  you, 
K dahoalineen^  thou  lovest  us,  k'dahoalowak,  thou  lovest  them. 
You  may  easily  perceive  that  the  governing  pronoun  is  not 
always  in  the  same  relative  place  with  the  governed. 

That  these  and  other  forms  of  the  verbs  may  be  better  under 
stood,  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  say  something  here  of  the  per 
sonal  pronouns.  They  are  of  two  kinds :  separable  and  insep 
arable.  The  separable  pronouns  are  these  : 

Ni, /. 

Ki,  thou. 

Neka,  or  nekama,  he  or  she. 

Kiluna,  we. 

Kiluwa,  you. 

Nekamawa,  they. 

There  are  other  personal  pronouns,  which  I  believe  to  be 
peculiar  to  the  Indian  languages ;  such  are : 

Nepe,  I  also. 
Kepe,  thou  also. 
Nepena,  or  kepena,  we  also. 
Kepewo,  you  also. 
Kepoak,  they  also. 

The  inseparable  pronouns  are  n  for  the  first  person,  k  for  the 
second,  and  w  or  o  for  the  third,  both  in  the  singular  and  the 
plural.  They  are  combined  with  substantives  in  the  possessive 
forms,  as  in  nooc/i,  my  father,  kooch,  thy  father ;  the  third  person 
is  sometimes  expressed  by  the  termination  wall,  as  ochwatt,  his 
or  her  father,  and  at  other  times  by  w,  as  in  wtamochol,  his  or 
her  canoe.  In  the  plural,  nochena,  our  father,  kochuwa,  your  father, 
ochuwawall,  their  father. 

The  verbal  transitions  are  compounded  of  the  verb  itself,  com- 


414  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

bined  with  the  inseparable  pronouns  and  other  forms  or  inflexions, 
expressive  of  time,  person,  and  number.  To  understand  these 
properly  requires  attention  and  study. 

These  things  are  not  new  to  you,  but  they  may  be  of  use  to 
those  members  of  the  Committee  who  have  not,  like  yourself, 
had  the  opportunity  of  studying  a  grammar  of  this  language. 

I  am,  &c. 


LETTER   XXII. 

FROM  THE  SAME. 

BETHLEHEM,  2;th  August,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR.  —  I  promised  you  in  one  of  my  former  letters  that 
I  would  write  to  a  gentleman  well  acquainted  with  the  Chippe- 
way  language,  to  ascertain  whether  it  is  true,  as  Professor  Vater 
asserts,  that  it  is  almost  without  any  grammatical  forms.  I  wrote 
in  consequence  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dencke,  a  respectable  Mission 
ary  of  the  Society  of  the  United  Brethren,  who  resides  at  Fair- 
field  in  Upper  Canada,  and  I  have  the  pleasure  of  communicating 
to  you  an  extract  from  his  answers  to  the  different  questions 
which  my  letter  contained. 

EXTRACT. 

I.  "According  to  my  humble  opinion,  and  limited  knowledge 
of  the  Indian  languages,  being  chiefly  acquainted  with  the  Dela 
ware  and  Chippeway,  of  which  alone  I  can  speak  with  propriety, 
those  two  idioms  are  of  one  and  the  same  grammatical  structure, 
and  rich  in  forms.  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  Mr.  Duponceau 
is  correct  in  his  opinion  that  the  American  languages  in  general 
resemble  each  other  in  point  of  grammatical  construction ;  for  I 
find  in  that  of  Greenland  nearly  the  same  inflections,  prefixes, 
and  suffixes,  as  in  the  Delaware  and  the  Chippeway.  The  in 
flexions  of  nouns  and  conjugations  of  verbs  are  the  same.  The 
pronominal  accusative  is  in  the  same  manner  incorporated  with 
the  verb,  which,  in  this  form,  may  be  properly  called  transitive. 
See  Crantz's  History  of  Greenland,  in  German,  page  283.  These 


THE    INDIAN     LANGUAGES.  41$ 

forms,  though  they  are  very  regular,  are  most  difficult  for  foreign 
ers  to  acquire.  I  might  give  examples  of  conjugations  in  the 
various  forms,  but  as  they  have  not  been  expressly  called  for,  I 
do  not  think  necessary  to  do  it. 

"  The  Greenlanders,  it  seems,  have  three  numbers  in  the  con 
jugation  of  their  verbs,  the  singular,  dual,  and  plural  ;  the  Dela- 
wares  and  Chippeways  have  also  three,  the  singular,  the  par 
ticular,  and  the  plural.  For  instance,  in  the  Delaware  language 
we  say  in  the  plural,  '  k'pendameneenj  which  means  '  we  all  have 
heard  ; '  and  in  the  particular  number  we  say,  '  it pendameneen} 
'  we,  who  are  now  specially  spoken  of,  (for  instance,  this  com 
pany,  the  white  people,  the  Indians,)  have  heard.'  Upon  the 
whole,  Crantz's  History  of  Greenland  has  given  me  a  great  in 
sight  into  the  construction  of  the  Indian  languages ;  through  his 
aid,  I  have  been  able  to  find  out  the  so  necessary  infinitive  of 
each  particular  verb.  By  means  of  the  transitions,  Indian  verbs 
have  nine  or  ten  different  infinitives,  whence  we  must  conclude 
that  it  is  very  difficult  to  learn  the  Indian  languages.  There  is 
also  a  peculiarity  in  them,  by  means  of  the  duplication  of  the 
first  syllable,  as  '  gattopuinj  '  to  be  hungry; '  '  gagattopuinl  to  be 
very  hungry. 

2.  "  Carver's  Vocabulary  of  the  Chippeway,  I  believe  is  not 
correct,  though  I  have  it  not  at  present  before  me. 

3.  "  The  numerals  in  the  Chippeway  up  to  ten,  are  as  follows. 
I  write  them  according  to  the  German  orthography,      i.  Beschik. 
2.  Nisch.     3.  Nisswi.     4.  Newin.     5.  Nanan.     6.  N'guttiwaswi. 
7.  Nischschwaswi.     8.  Schwaschwi.     9.  Schenk.     20.  Quetsch." 

Thus  far  Mr.  Dencke.  I  do  not  recollect  whether  I  have 
already  explained  to  you  what  he  says  about  the  "particular" 
number  in  the  conjugation  of  the  Delaware  verbs.  There  is  a 
distinction  in  the  plural  forms.  "  1C pendameneen,  (&  from  kiluna, 
'  we,')  means  generally  '  we  have  heard/  or  '  we  all  have  heard/ 
not  intending  to  allude  to  a  particular  number  of  persons ;  in 
'  it pendameneenj  the  '«'  comes  from  '  niluna}  which  means  'we,' 
in  particular,  our  family,  nation,  select  body,  &c.  c  Niluna  yu 
epienk!  '  we  who  are  here  assembled/  ripenameneen,  (for  niluna 
penameneen)  we  see  (we  who  are  together  see) ;  ri pendameneen. 


416  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

we  hear  (we  who  are  in  this  room  hear).  But  when  no  discrimi 
nation  is  intended  to  be  made,  the  form  kiluna,  or  its  abridge 
ment  tf  is  used.  Kihma  elenapewit,  '  we,  the  Indians  '  (meaning 
all  the  Indians) ;  kiluna  yu  enda  lauchsienk,  '  we  all  that  live  upon 
earth ; '  '  k'nemeneen  sokelange]  we  see  it  rain,  (we  all  see  it  rain) ; 
Knemeneen  waselehelete ,  we  all  see  the  light,  (we  and  all  who  live 
upon  earth  see  the  light.)" 

I  believe  Mr.  Zeisberger  does  not  mention  this  distinction  in 
his  Grammar ;  but  he  could  not  say  every  thing.        1  am,  &c. 


LETTER   XXIII. 

TO  MR.  HECKEWELDER. 

PHILADELPHIA,  3oth  August,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR.  —  I  thank  you  for  your  two  favours  of  the  26th 
and  2/th  inst.  I  am  very  much  pleased  to  find  from  the  valuable 
extract  of  Mr.  Dencke's  letter,  which  you  have  had  the  goodness 
to  communicate,  that  the  Chippeways  have  grammatical  forms 
similar  to  those  of  the  Delawares.  Indeed,  as  far  as  my  re 
searches  have  extended,  I  have  found  those  forms  in  all  the  In 
dian  languages  from  Greenland  to  Cape  Horn.  The  venerable 
Eliot's  Grammar  shews  that  they  exist  in  the  idiom  of  the  New 
England  Indians,  as  he  calls  it,  which  is  believed  to  be  that  of 
the  Natick  tribe.  Crantz  and  Egede  prove  in  the  most  incon 
trovertible  manner  that  the  language  of  Greenland  is  formed  on 
the  same  syntactic  or  poly  synthetic  model.  So  are  the  various 
dialects  of  Mexico,  as  far  as  I  can  judge  from  the  Grammars  of 
those  languages  that  are-  in  our  Society's  library.  Indeed,  the 
authors  of  those  Grammars  are  the  first  who  have  noticed  the 
personal  forms  of  the  Indian  verbs,  and  given  them  the  name  of 
transitions.  I  find  from  Father  Breton's  Grammar  and  Dictionary 
of  the  Caribbee  language,  that  those  forms  exist  also  in  that 
idiom,  and  the  Abbe  Molina,  in  his  excellent  History  of  Chili, 
has  shewn  that  the  Araucanian  belongs  to  the  same  class  of  lan 
guages.  All  the  genuine  specimens  that  we  have  seen  of  the 


THE     INDIAN     LANGUAGES. 

grammatical  forms  of  the  Indians  from  north  to  south,  on  the 
continent,  and  in  the  islands,  exhibit  the  same  general  features, 
and  no  exception  whatever  that  I  know  of  has  yet  been  dis 
covered.  Father  Sagard's  assertions  about  the  Huron  are  not 
founded  in  fact,  and  are  even  disproved  by  the  examples  which 
he  adduces,  and  Mr.  Dencke's  testimony  is  sufficient  to  counter 
balance  the  naked  supposition  of  Professor  Vater  that  the  lan 
guage  of  the  Chippeways  has  no  forms.  Too  much  praise  can 
not  be  given  to  this  learned  author  for  the  profound  researches 
that  he  has  made  on  the  subject  of  American  languages  with  a 
view  to  discover  the  origin  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  this 
continent,  but  not  being  on  the  spot,  he  had  not  the  same  means 
of  ascertaining  facts  that  we  possess  in  this  country.  Had  he 
lived  among  us,  he  would  not  so  easily  have  been  persuaded  that 
there  was  such  a  difference  between  the  different  languages  of 
the  American  Indians;  that  some  of  them  were  exceedingly  rich 
in  grammatical  forms,  and  appeared  to  have  been  framed  with 
the  greatest  skill,  while  others  were  so  very  poor  in  that  respect 
that  they  might  be  compared  to  the  idioms  of  the  most  savage 
nations  in  north-eastern  Asia  and  Africa.1  In  Philology,  as  well 
as  in  every  other  science,  authorities  ought  to  be  weighed,  com 
pared,  and  examined,  and  no  assertion  should  be  lightly  believed 
that  is  not  supported  by  evident  proof  faithfully  drawn  from  the 
original  sources. 

I  do  not  positively  assert  that  all  the  languages  of  the  Amer 
ican  Indians  are  formed  on  the  same  grammatical  construction, 
but  I  think  I  may  safely  advance  that  as  far  as  our  means  of 
knowledge  extend,  they  appear  to  be  so,  and  that  no  proof 
has  yet  been  adduced  to  the  contrary.  When  we  find  so  many 
different  idioms,  spoken  by  nations  which  reside  at  immense 
distances  from  each  other,  so  entirely  different  in  their  etymol 
ogy  that  there  is  not  the  least  appearance  of  a  common  deriva- 

1  Bey  vielen  Amerikanischen  Sprachen  finden  wir  theils  einen  so  kunstlichen  und 
zusammengesetzten  bau,  und  einem  so  grossen  reichthum  an  grammatischen  formen, 
wie  ihn  selbst  bey  dem  verbum  wenige  sprachen  der  Welt  haben :  theils  scheinen 
sie  so  arm  an  aller  grammatischen  ausbildung,  wie  die  sprachen  der  rohesten  Volker 
in  Nord-Ost-Asia  und  in  Afrika  seyn  mogen.  Untersuchungen  tiber  Amerika3 
bevolkenmg,  S.  152. 
27 


418  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

tion,  yet  so  strikingly  similar  in  their  forms,  that  one  would 
imagine  the  same  mind  presided  over  their  original  formation, 
we  may  well  suppose  that  the  similarity  extends  through  the 
whole  of  the  languages  of  this  race  of  men,  at  least  until  we 
have  clear  and  direct  proof  to  the  contrary.  It  is  at  any  rate, 
a  fact  well  worthy  of  investigation,  and  this  point,  if  it  should 
ever  be  settled,  may  throw  considerable  light  on  the  origin  of 
the  primaeval  inhabitants  of  this  country. 

The  most  generally  established  opinion  seems  to  be,  that  the 
Americans  are  descended  from  the  Tartars  who  inhabit  the  north- 
easternmost  parts  of  Asia.  Would  it  not  be  then  well  worth  the 
while  to  ascertain  this  fact  by  enquiring  into  the  grammatical 
forms  and  construction  of  the  languages  of  those  people  ?  The 
great  Empress  Catharine  employed  a  learned  professor  to  com 
pile  a  comparative  vocabulary  of  those  languages  which  are 
spoken  within  the  vast  extent  of  the  Russian  Empire.  This 
was  but  the  first  step  towards  a  knowledge  of  the  character 
and  affinities  of  those  idioms.  If  something  may  be  discovered 
by  the  mere  similarity  of  words,  how  much  farther  may  not  we 
proceed  by  studying  and  comparing  the  "  plans  of  men's  ideas," 
and  the  variety  of  modes  by  which  they  have  contrived  to  give 
them  body  and  shape  through  articulate  sounds.  This  I  con 
sider  to  be  the  most  truly  philosophical  view  of  human  language 
generally  considered,  and  before  we  decide  upon  the  Tartar  ori 
gin  of  the  American  Indians,  we  ought,  I  think,  to  study  the 
grammars  of  the  Tartar  languages,  and  ascertain  whether  their 
thoughts  flow  in  the  same  course,  and  whether  their  languages 
are  formed  by  similar  associations  of  ideas,  with  those  of  their 
supposed  descendants.  If  essential  differences  should  be  found 
between  them  in  this  respect,  I  do  not  see  how  the  hypothesis 
of  Tartar  origin  could  afterwards  be  maintained. 

Professor  Vater  is  of  opinion  that  the  language  of  the  Canta- 
brians,  whom  we  call  Biscayans  or  Basques,  a  people  who  inhabit 
the  sea  coast  at  the  foot  of  the  Pyrenean  mountains,  is  formed  on 
the  same  model  with  that  of  the  American  Indians.  We  have  in 
our  Society's  library,  a  translation  into  that  idiom  of  Royau- 
mont's  History  of  the  Bible.  I  acknowledge,  that  by  comparing 
it  with  the  original,  I  have  found  sufficient  reason  to  incline  in 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  419 

favour  of  the  Professor's  assertion.  This  is  a  very  curious  fact, 
which  well  deserves  to  be  inquired  into.  This  Basque  language, 
it  is  to  be  presumed,  was  once  spoken  in  a  considerable  part  of 
the  ancient  world,  and  probably  branched  out  into  various  dia 
lects.  How  comes  it  that  those  polysynthetic  forms  which  dis 
tinguish  it,  have  disappeared  from  all  the  rest  of  the  continent 
of  Europe,  and  are  only  preserved  in  a  single  language  no  longer 
spoken  but  by  a  handful  of  mountaineers  ?  How  comes  it  that 
the  Celtic  which  appears  no  less  ancient  is  so  widely  different  in 
its  grammatical  construction  ?  Are  we  to  revive  the  story  of  the 
Atlantis,  and  believe  that  the  two  continents  of  America  and 
Europe  were  once  connected  together?  At  least,  we  will  not 
forget  that  the  Biscayans  were  once  great  navigators,  and  that 
they  were  among  the  first  who  frequented  the  coasts  of  New 
foundland. 

But  let  us  leave  these  wild  theories,  and  not  lose  sight  of  our 
object,  which  is  to  ascertain  facts,  and  let  others  afterwards  draw 
inferences  from  them  at  their  pleasure.  In  Father  Breton's  Gram 
mar  and  Dictionary  of  the  Caribbee  language,  I  have  been  struck 
with  a  fact  of  a  very  singular  nature.  It  seems  (and  indeed 
there  appears  no  reason  to  entertain  the  least  doubt  on  the  sub 
ject)  that  in  that  idiom  the  language  of  the  men  and  that  of  the 
women  differ  in  a  great  degree  from  each  other.  This  difference 
does  not  merely  consist  in  the  inflexions  or  terminations  of 
words,  but  the  words  themselves,  used  by  the  different  sexes, 
have  no  kind  of  resemblance.  Thus  the  men  call  an  enemy 
etoucou,  and  the  women  akani ;  a  friend  in  the  masculine  dia 
lect  is  ibaouanale,  in  the  female  nitignon.  I  might  adduce  a 
much  greater  number  of  examples  to  shew  the  difference  be 
tween  these  two  modes  of  speaking.  It  does  not,  however, 
pervade  the  whole  language ;  sometimes  the  termination  of 
the  words  only  differs,  while  in  many  cases  the  same  words 
are  used  exactly  alike  by  both  sexes.  But  those  which  differ 
entirely  in  the  two  idioms  are  very  numerous,  and  are  in  gen 
eral  terms  of  common  use,  such  as  names  of  parts  of  the  body, 
or  of  relationship  as  father,  mother,  brother,  sister,  and  many 
others.  It  is  said  a  tradition  prevails  in  the  Caribbee  islands 
that  their  nation  was  once  conquered  by  another  people,  who 


42O  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

put  all  the  males  to  death  and  preserved  only  the  females,  who 
retained  their  national  language,  and  would  not  adopt  that  of 
the  conquerors.  I  am  not  much  disposed  to  believe  this  story ; 
the  more  so  as  I  find  similar  instances  in  other  idioms  of  differ 
ent  words  being  employed  by  the  men  and  women  to  express 
the  same  thing.  Thus  among  the  Othomis,  (a  Mexican  tribe) 
the  men  call  a  brother-in-law  naco,  and  the  women  namo ;  a 
sister-in-law  is  called  by  the  men  nabehpo,  and  by  the  women 
namuddu.  (Molina's  Grammar  of  the  Othomi  language,  p.  38.) 
In  the  Mexican  proper,  the  men  add  an  e  to  the  vocative  of 
every  proper  name,  and  say  Pedroe  for  Pedro  ;  while  the  women 
leave  out  the  e  and  distinguish  the  vocative  only  by  an  affected 
pronunciation.  (Rincon's  Mexican  Grammar,  p.  6.)  It  is  said 
also  that  among  the  Javanese,  there  is  a  language  for  the  nobles 
and  another  for  the  common  people.1  These  are  curious  facts, 
and  a  discovery  of  their  causes  would  lay  open  an  interesting 
page  of  the  great  hidden  book  of  the  history  of  man. 

As  I  have  determined  to  abstain  from  every  hypothesis,  I 
shall  leave  it  to  others  to  discover  and  point  out  the  causes  of 
these  extraordinary  facts ;  but  I  shall  be  obliged  to  you  for  in 
forming  me  whether  in  any  of  the  Indian  languages  that  you 
know,  there  is  any  such  difference  of  dialect  between  the  two 
sexes,  and  in  what  it  particularly  consists.  I  cannot  believe  this 
story  of  the  conquest  of  the  Caribbee  islands  and  of  its  producing 
that  variety  of  language.  I  find  it  related  by  one  Davis,  an  Eng 
lish  writer,  in  whom  I  place  no  reliance ;  for  he  has  pretended  to 
give  a  Vocabulary  of  the  Caribbee  language,  which  he  has  evi 
dently  taken  from  Father  Breton,  without  even  taking  the 
trouble  of  substituting  the  English  for  the  French  orthog 
raphy.  Carver  acted  with  more  skill  in  this  respect. 

I  thank  you  for  the  explanation  which  you  have  given  of  what 
Mr.  Dencke  calls  the  "particular  plural,"  of  the  Chippeway  and 
Delaware  languages,  of  which  I  had  no  idea,  as  Zeisberger 
does  not  make  any  mention  of  it.  It  appears  to  me  that  this 
numerical  form  of  language  (if  I  can  so  express  myself,)  is 

1  Among  the  Mbayas,  a  nation  of  Paraguay,  it  is  said  that  young  men  and  girls, 
before  their  marriage,  speak  a  language  differing  in  many  respects  from  that  of  mar 
ried  men  and  women.  Azara,  c.  10. 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  421 

founded  in  nature,  and  ought  to  have  its  place  in  a  system  of 
Universal  Grammar.  It  is  more  natural  than  the  Greek  dual, 
which  is  too  limited  in  its  comprehension,  while  the  particular 
plural  expresses  more,  and  may  be  limited  in  its  application  to 
two,  when  the  context  or  the  subject  of  the  conversation  requires 
it.  I  find  this  plural  in  several  of  the  modern  European  lan 
guages  ;  it  is  the  nosotros  of  the  Spanish,  the  noi  altri  of  the 
Italian,  and  the  French  nous  autres.  There  is  nothing  like  it  in 
English  or  German,  nor  even  in  the  Latin.  I  am  disposed  to 
believe  that  this  form  exists  also  in  the  Greenland  language,  and 
has  been  improperly  called  dual  by  those  who  have  written  on 
it.  The  Abbe  Molina  speaks  also  of  a  Dual  in  the  Araucanian 
idiom,  which  he  translates  by  we  two.  But  he  may  have  used  a 
term  generally  known,  to  avoid  the  explanations  which  a  new 
one  would  have  required.  However  this  may  be,  the  particular 
plural  is  well  worthy  of  notice. 

I  shall  be  obliged  to  you  for  a  translation  of  the  Lord's  prayer 
in  the  Delaware  language,  with  proper  explanations  in  English. 
I  suspect  that  in  Loskiel  is  not  correct. 

In  reading  some  time  ago  one  of  the  Gospels,  (I  think  St. 
Mark's,)  in  one  of  the  Iroquois  dialects,  said  to  be  translated  by 
the  celebrated  chief  Captain  Brandt,  I  observed  that  the  word 
town  was  translated  into  Indian  by  the  word  Kanada,  and  it 
struck  me  that  the  name  of  the  province  of  Canada  might  prob 
ably  have  been  derived  from  it.  I  have  not  been  able  to  procure 
the  book  since,  but  I  have  now  before  me  a  translation  of  the 
English  common  prayer-book  into  the  Mohawk,  ascribed  to  the 
same  chief,  in  which  I  find  these  words  :  "  Ne  KANADA-^W^/J  kon- 
wayatsk  Nazareth"  which  are  the  translation  of  "  in  a  CITY 
called  Nazareth,"  (Matth.  ii.  23.)  The  termination  gongh  in  this 
word  appears  evidently  to  be  a  grammatical  form  or  inflexion, 
and  Kanada  is  the  word  which  answers  for  "city"  I  should  be 
glad  to  know  your  opinion  of  this  etymology. 

I  find  in  Zeisberger's  grammar,  in  the  conjugation  of  one  of 
the  forms  of  the  verb  ripeton  "  I  bring,"  ripetagep  in  one  place, 
and  in  another  ripetagunewoakupt  both  translated  into  German 
by  "  sie  haben  mir  gebracht"  "  they  have  brought  to  me."  Are 
these  words  synonyma,  or  is  there  some  difference  between  them, 
and  which  ?  I  am,  &c. 


422  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

LETTER  XXIV. 

FROM   MR.    HECKEWELDER. 

BETHLEHEM,  5th  September,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR. — I  have  received  your  favour  of  the  3<Dth  ult.  I 
answer  it  first  at  the  end,  and  begin  with  your  etymology  of  the 
word  Canada.  In  looking  over  some  of  Mr.Zeisberger's  papers, 
who  was  well  acquainted  with  the  language  of  the  Onondagoes, 
the  principal  dialect  of  the  Iroquois,  to  which  nation  the  Mo 
hawks  belong,  I  find  he  translates  the  German  word  stadt  (town) 
into  the  Onondago  by  "  ganatage"  Now,  as  you  well  know 
that  the  Germans  sometimes  employ  the  G  instead  of  the  K,  and 
the  T  instead  of  the  D,  it  is  very  possible  that  the  word  Kanada 
may  mean  the  same  thing  in  some  grammatical  form  of  the  Mo 
hawk  dialect.  As  you  have  seen  it  so  employed  in  Captain 
Brandt's  translation,  there  cannot  be  the  least  doubt  about  it. 
This  being  taken  for  granted,  it  is  not  improbable  that  you  have 
hit  upon  the  true  etymology  of  the  name  Canada.  For  nothing 
is  more  certain  than  what  Dr.  Wistar  once  told  you  on  my  au 
thority,  that  the  Indians  make  more  use  of  particular  than  of 
generic  words.  I  found  myself  under  very  great  embarrassment 
in  consequence  of  it  when  I  first  began  to  learn  the  Delaware 
language.  I  would  point  to  a  tree  and  ask  the  Indians  how  they 
called  it;  they  would  answer  an  oak,  an  ash,  a  maple,  as  the  case 
might  be,  so  that  at  last  I  found  in  my  vocabulary  more  than  a 
dozen  words  for  the  word  tree.  It  was  a  good  while  before  I 
found  out,  that  when  you  asked  of  an  Indian  the  name  of  a  thing, 
he  would  always  give  you  the  specific  and  never  the  generic  de 
nomination.  So  that  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  Frenchman 
who  first  asked  of  the  Indians  in  Canada  the  name  of  their  coun 
try,  pointing  to  the  spot  and  to  the  objects  which  surrounded 
him,  received  for  answer  Kanada,  (town  or  village),  and  commit 
ting  the  same  mistake  that  I  did,  believed  it  to  be  the  name  of 
the  whole  region,  and  reported  it  so  to  his  countrymen,  who 
consequently  gave  to  their  newly  acquired  dominions  the  name 
of  Canada. 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  423 

I  had  never  heard  before  I  received  your  letter  that  there  ex 
isted  a  country  where  the  men  and  the  women  spoke  a  different 
language  from  each  other.  It  is  not  the  case  with  the  Delawares 
or  any  Indian  nation  that  I  am  acquainted  with.  The  two  sexes 
with  them  speak  exactly  the  same  idiom.  The  women,  indeed, 
have  a  kind  of  lisping  or  drawling  accent,  which  comes  from 
their  being  so  constantly  with  children ;  but  the  language  which 
they  speak  does  not  differ  in  the  least  from  that  which  is  spoken 
by  their  husbands  and  brothers. 

The  question  you  ask  about  ripetageep  and  rtpetagunewoakup, 
both  of  which  Zeisberger  translates  by  sie  haben  mir  gebracht,  is 
easily  answered.  The  translation  is  correct  in  both  cases,  ac 
cording  to  the  idiom  of  the  German  language,  from  which  alone 
the  ambiguity  proceeds.  N'petageep  means  "  they  have  brought 
to  me,"  but  in  a  general  sense,  and  without  specifying  by  whom 
the  thing  has  been  brought.  Es  ist  mir  gebracht  warden,  or  "  it 
has  been  brought  to  me,"  would  have  explained  this  word  better, 
while  ri petagunewoakup  is  literally  rendered  by  "  they"  (alluding 
to  particular  persons,)  "  have  brought  to  me,"  or  sie  haben  mir 
gebracJit.  You  have  here  another  example  of  the  nicely  discrim 
inating  character  of  the  Indian  languages. 

I  believe  I  have  never  told  you  that  the  Indians  distinguish 
the  genders,  animate  and  inanimate,  even  in  their  verbs.  Nol- 
hatton  and  nolhalla,  both  mean  "  I  possess"  but  the  former  can 
only  be  used  in  speaking  of  the  possession  of  things  inanimate, 
and  the  latter  of  living  creatures.  NOLHATTON  achquiwanissall, 
"  I  have  or  possess  blankets ;  "  cheeli  kcecu  rinolhattowi,  "  many 
things  I  am  possessed  of,"  or  "  I  possess  many  things ;  "  woak 
nechenaunges  nolhallau,  "  and  I  possess  a  horse,"  (and  a  horse  I 
possess.)  The  u  which  you  see  at  the  end  of  the  verb  nolhalla^ 
conveys  the  idea  of  the  pronoun  him,  so  that  it  is  the  same  as  if 
you  said,  " and  a  horse  I  possess  him"  It  is  the  accusative 
form  on  which  you  observed  in  one  of  your  former  letters  and 
is  annexed  to  the  verb  instead  of  the  noun. 

In  the  verb  "  to  sec"  the  same  distinction  is  made  between 
things  animate  and  inanimate.  Newau,  "  I  see,"  applies  only  to 
the  former,  and  nemen  to  the  latter.  Thus  the  Delawares  say : 
lenno  newau,  "  I  see  a  man;"  tscholens  newau,  "I  see  a  bird;" 


424  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

achgook  newau,  "  I  see  a  snake."  On  the  contrary  they  say, 
wiquam  i.emen,  "  I  see  a  house ; "  amochol  nemen,  "  I  see  a  ca 
noe,"  &c. 

It  is  the  same  with  other  verbs;  even  when  they  speak  of 
things  lying  upon  the  ground,  they  distinguish  between  what  has 
life  and  what  is  inanimate;  thus  they  say,  icka  schingieschzVz  * 
ridallemans  "  there  lies  my  beast,"  (the  verb  schingieschin  *  being 
only  used  when  speaking  of  animate  things;)  otherwise  they  will 
say :  icka  schingiesch^^  ritamahican,  "  yonder  lies  my  ax."  The 
i  or  the  e  in  the  last  syllable  of  the  verb,  as  here  used  in  the 
third  person,  constitutes  the  difference,  which  indicates  that  the 
thing  spoken  of  has  or  has  not  life. 

It  would  be  too  tedious  to  go  through  these  differences  in  the 
various  forms  which  the  verb  can  assume;  what  I  have  said  will 
be  sufficient  to  shew  the  principle  and  the  manner  in  which  this 
distinction  is  made. 

I  inclose  a  translation  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  into  Delaware, 
with  the  English  interlined  according  to  your  wishes.  I  am,  &c. 

THE  LORD'S  PRAYER  IN  THE  DELAWARE  LANGUAGE. 

Ki  Thou 

Wetochemelenk  our  Father 

talli  there 

epian  dwelling 

Awossagame,  beyond  the  clouds, 

Machelendasutsch  magnified  or  praised  be 

Ktellewunsowagan  thy  name 

Ksakimowagan  thy  kingdom 

peyewiketsch  come  on 

Ktelitehewagan  thy  thoughts,  will,  intention,  mind, 

leketsch  come  to  pass 

yun  here 

Achquidhackamike  upon  or  all  over  the  earth, 

elgiqui  the  same 

leek  as  it  is 

talli  there 

1  For  "  schingieschin  "  read  "  schingiechin" 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES. 


425 


Awossagame 

Milineen 

eligischquik 

gunagischuk 

Achpoan 

woak 

miwelendammauwineen 

n'tschannauchsowagannena 

elgiqui 

niluna 

miwelendammauwenk 

nik 

tschetschanilawequengik 

woak 
katschi 
n'pawuneen 
li 


in  heaven  or  beyond  the  clouds, 

give  to  us 

on  or  through  this  day 

the  usual,  daily 

bread, 

and 

forgive  to  us 

our  transgressions  (faults), 

the  same  as 

we   (particular   plural)    we   who 

are  here 

we  mutually  forgive  them, 
who  or  those 
who  have  transgressed  or  injured 

us  (past  participle) 
and 
let  not 

us  come  to  that 
that 


achquetschiechtowaganink 

we  fall  into    temptation;    (ink 

into), 

shuckund 

but  (rather) 

ktennineen 

keep  us  free 

untschi 

from 

medhicking. 

all  evil 

Alod 

for 

Knihillatamen 

thou  claimest 

ksakimowagan1 

thy  kingdom 

woak 

and 

ktallewussoagan 

the  superior  power 

woak 

and 

ktallowilissowagan 

all  magnificence 

ne 

from 

1  The  k  which  is  prefixed  to  this  and  the  following  substantives,  conveys  the  idea 
of  the  pronoun  thy ;  it  is  a  repetition  (as  it  were)  of  the  beginning  of  the  phrase 
"for  thine"  &c.,  and  enforces  its  meaning.  Ksakimowagan,  maybe  thus  dissected: 
k,  thy,  sakima,  king  or  chief,  wagan,  substantive  termination,  added  to  king,  makes 
kingdom. 


426  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

wuntschi  heretofore 

hallemiwi,  ever  (always) 

Nanne  leketsch.  Amen,     (so   be   it ;    so    may   it 

come  to  pass.) 


LETTER    XXV. 

TO  MR.  HECKEWELDER. 

PHILADELPHIA,  ist  October,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR. — Various  professional  avocations  have  prevented 
me  from  answering  sooner  your  kind  letter  of  the  5th  ult.  I 
thank  you  for  the  Delaware  translation  of  the  Lord's  prayer ;  it 
does  not  differ  much  from  that  in  Loskiel,  but  the  English  ex 
planations  which  you  have  given  add  greatly  to  its  value. 

The  information  which  your  letter  contains  on  the  subject  of 
the  annexation  to  the  verb  of  the  form  or  inflexion  indicative 
of  the  gender,  is  quite  new  to  me.  Though  I  was  already  ac 
quainted  with  the  principle  on  which  this  takes  place,  I  was 
not  fully  aware  of  the  extent  of  its  application.  We  have  already 
noticed  and  remarked  upon  the  combination  of  the  pronominal 
form  with  the  active  verb1  in  " getannitowit  riquitayala,  I  fear 
God ;  "  in  which  the  pronoun  him  is  expressed  by  the  last  sylla 
ble  ala  or  yala,  so  that  it  is  the  same  as  if  you  said  "  God  I  fear 
him"  in  Latin  Deus  timeo  eum,  and  by  contraction,  Deus  timeum. 
With  this  it  is  not  difficult  to  pursue  the  same  course  or  "plan 
of  ideas,"  by  connecting  not  only  the  subject  pronoun,  but  its 
gender,  animate,  or  inanimate,  with  the  verbal  form.  The  idea 
of  the  sexes,  if  the  language  admitted  of  it,  might  be  expressed 
in  the  same  manner.  Thus  also  Latin  words  might  be  com 
pounded  on  the  Delaware  plan.  If  I  wished  to  express  in  that 
manner  "7  see  a  lion"  I  would  say  leo  video  eum,  and  by  contrac 
tion  videum ;  and  if  the  object  was  of  the  feminine  gender,  I 
would  say  videam,  for  video  earn.  The  difference  between  the 
Latin  and  the  Delaware  is  that  in  the  former  the  ideas  of  the 

1  See  Letters  8  and  10. 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  427 

pronoun  and  its  gender  are  expressed  by  a  nominal  and  in  the 
latter  by  a  verbal  form.  I  consider  leonem  video,  as  a  contraction 
of  Ico  cum  video ;  the  n  being  interposed  between  leo  and  eum, 
and  the  u  in  eum  left  out  for  euphony's  sake.  In  the  same  man- 
ner  fceminam  appears  to  me  to  be  contracted  fromf&mina  earn;1 
whence  we  may,  perhaps,  conclude  that  in  the  formation  of  dif 
ferent  languages,  the  same  ideas  have  occurred  to  the  minds  of 
those  who  framed  them ;  but  have  been  differently  combined, 
and  consequently  differently  expressed.  Who  would  have 
thought  that  the  barbarous  idioms  of  the  American  savages 
could  have  thrown  light  on  the  original  formation  of  the  noble 
and  elegant  language  of  ancient  Rome  ?  Does  not  this  very 
clearly  shew  that  nothing  is  indifferent  in  science,  and  above  all, 
that  we  ought  by  no. means  to  despise  what  we  do  not  know  ? 

I  thought  we  had  exhausted  all  the  verbal  forms  of  the  Dela 
ware  language,  when  I  accidentally  fell  upon  one  which  Zeis- 
berger  has  not  mentioned  in  his  grammar,  but  of  which  he  gives 
an  example  in  his  vocabulary  or  spelling-book.  It  is  a  curious 
combination  of  the  relative  pronoun  "what"  or  "that  'which" 
with  an  active  verb,  regularly  conjugated  through  the  several 
transitions  or  personal  forms.  The  author  thus  conjugates  the 
present  of  the  indicative. 


FIRST  TRANSITION. 

Singular.  Plural. 

Elan,  what  I  tell  thee,  ellek,  what  I  tell  you, 

elak,  what  I  tell  him.  elachgup,  what  I  tell  them. 

SECOND  TRANSITION. 

Singular.  Plural. 

Eliyan,  what  thou  tellest  me,  eliyenk,  what  thou  tellest  tts, 

elan,  what  thou  tellest  him.  elachtup,  what  thou  tellest  them. 

1  M.  Raynouard,  in  his  excellent  Researches  on  the  Origin  and  Formation  of  the 
corrupted  Roman  Language,  spoken  before  the  year  1000,  has  sufficiently  proved 
that  the  French  articles  /<?,  the  Spanish  el,  and  the  Italian  il,  are  derived  from  the 
Latin  demonstrative  pronoun  ille,  which  began  about  the  sixth  century  to  be  prefixed 
to  the  substantive.  Thus  they  said:  ILLI  Saxones,  "  THE  Saxons ;"  ILLI  negocia- 
tores  de  Longobardia,  "  THE  Lombard  merchants,"  &c.  So  natural  is  the  use  of  the 
pronominal  form  to  give  clearness  and  precision  to  language.  Recherches,  &c.,  p.  39. 


428  CORRESPONDENCE  RESPECTING 

THIRD  TRANSITION. 

Singular.  Plural. 

Elit,  what  he  tells  me,  elquenk,  what  he  tells  us, 

elquon,  what  he  tells  thee,  elquek,  what  he  tells  you, 

elat,  elguk,  what  he  tells  him.  elatup,  elatscbi,  what  he  tells  them. 

FOURTH  TRANSITION. 

Singular.  Plural. 

Elenk,  what  we  tell  you,  ellek,  what  we  tell  you, 

elank,  what  we  tell  him.  elanquik,  what  we  tell  them. 

FIFTH  TRANSITION. 

Singular.  Plural. 

Eliyek,  what  you  tell  me,  eliyenkup,  what  you  tell  us, 

elatup,  what  you  tell  him.  elaachtitup,  what  you  tell  them. 

SIXTH  TRANSITION. 

Singular.  Plural. 

Elink,  what  they  tell  me,  elgeyenk,  what  they  tell  us, 

elquonnik,  what  they  tell  thee,  elgeyek,  what  they  tell  you, 

elaachtit,  what  they  tell  him.  elatschik,  what  they  tell  us. 

Thus  I  have  given  myself  the  pleasure  of  transcribing  this 
single  tense  of  one  of  the  moods  of  this  beautiful  verb,  which  I 
find  is  used  also  in  the  sense  of  *  as  I  tell  thee"  &c.,  and  is  a 
striking  example  of  the  astonishing  powers  of  this  part  of  speech 
in  the  Delaware  language.  Can  you  tell  me  where  those  powers 
end  ?  Is  there  anything  which  a  Delaware  verb  will  not  ex 
press  in  some  form  or  other?  I  am  no  longer  astonished  to 
find  that  Mr.  Zeisberger  has  not  displayed  in  his  grammar  all 
the  richness  of  this  idiom.  A  single  verb,  with  its  various  forms 
and  transitions,  would  almost  fill  a  volume,  and  there  are  no  less 
than  eight  conjugations,  all  of  which  were  to  be  explained  and 
illustrated  by  examples ! 

But  it  is  not  in  the  verbs  alone  that  consist  the  beauties  of  this 
language.  The  other  parts  of  speech  also  claim  our  attention. 
There  I  find,  as  well  as  in  the  verbs,  forms  and  combinations  of 
which  I  had  not  before  conceived  an  idea.  For  instance,  Zeis 
berger  tells  us  that  there  are  nouns  substantive  in  the  Delaware 
which  have  a  passive  mood !  Strange  as  this  may  appear  to 
those  who  are  unacquainted  with  Indian  forms,  it  is  nevertheless 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  429 

a  fact  which  cannot  be  denied ;  for  our  author  gives  us  several 
examples  of  this  passive  noun,  all  ending  with  the  substantive 
termination  wagan,  which,  as  you  have  informed  me,  corresponds 
with  the  English  ness,  in  "  happiness,"  and  the  German  heit  or 
keit,  in  the  numerous  words  ending  with  these  syllables.  Per 
mit  me  to  select  some  of  the  examples  given  by  Zeisberger. 

Machelemuxowagan,  honour,  the  being  honoured. 
Gettemagelemuxowagan,  the  receiving  favour,  mercy,  tenderness. 
Mamschalgussiwagan,1  the  being  held  in  remembrance. 
Witahemgussowagan,  the  being  assisted  or  helped. 
Mamintochimgussowagan,2  the  being  esteemed. 
Wulakenimgussowagan,  the  being  praised. 
Machelemoachgenimgussowagan,    the    receiving    honour    and 

praise. 
Amangachgenimgussowagan,  the  being  raised  or  elevated  by 

praise. 

Schingalgussowagan,  the  being  hated. 
Mamachtschimgusso wagan,  the  being  insulted. 

You  will,  I  am  afraid,  be  disposed  to  think  that  we  have 
changed  places,  and  that  I-' am  presuming  to  give  you  in 
struction  in  the  Delaware  language;  but  I  am  only  repeating 
to  you  the  lessons  that  I  have  learned  from  Zeisberger,  to 
save  you  the  trouble  of  explaining  what  I  can  obtain  from 
another  source ;  to  be  corrected,  if  I  have  committed  mistakes, 
and  to  receive  from  you  the  information  which  my  author  does 
not  give.  Besides,  as  our  correspondence  is  intended  for  the 
use  of  the  Historical  Committee,  my  occasional  extracts  from 
Zeisberger,  and  the  observations  to  which  they  give  rise,  are  ad 
dressed  to  them  as  well  as  to  you,  and  under  your  correction,  may 
contribute  to  give  them  a  clearer  idea  of  the  forms  of  the  Indian 
languages.  Our  letters  thus  form  a  kind  of  epistolary  confer 
ence  between  the  scholar  and  his  master,  held  before  a  learned 
body,  who  profit  even  by  the  ignorance  of  the  student,  as  it 
draws  fuller  and  more  luminous  explanations  from  the  teacher. 


1  For  "  Mamschalgussiwagan  "  read  " Mamschalgussoiuagan" 

2  For  "Mamintochimgussowagan''''  read  "Mamintsckimgussowagan" 


430  CORRESPONDENCE    RESPECTING 

Had  I  proceeded  otherwise,  your  task  would  have  been  much 
more  laborious  and  troublesome,  and  it  would  have  been  un 
generous  to  have  exacted  it  from  you. 

In  this  manner  I  have  relieved  you  from  the  trouble  of  ex 
plaining  the  passive  substantives  of  Zeisberger,  unless  I  should 
have  mistaken  his  meaning,  in  which  case,  you  will,  of  course, 
set  me  right.  But  this  author  does  not  tell  us  whether  there 
are  on  the  other  hand  active  substantives,  such  as  "the  honour 
ing"  "the  favouring"  "the  remembering"  "the  praising"  "the 
insulting"  "the  hating."  Here  I  beg  you  will  be  so  good  as  to 
supply  his  deficiency,  and  explain  what  he  has  left  unexplained. 

I  find  also  that  there  are  diminutive  words  in  the  Delaware, 
as  in  the  Italian,  such  as  lennotit,  a  little  man,  (from  lenno] ;  ame- 
mentit,  a  little  child,  (from  amemens) ;  wiquames,  a  little  house, 
(from  wiqnam),  &c.  Pray,  are  there  also  augmentatives  ?  Is 
there  any  difference  between  the  diminutive  terminations  tit 
and  es,  and  what  is  it  ? 

I  have  been  told  that  you  intend  soon  to  visit  Philadelphia; 
I  shall  rejoice  to  find  it  true,  and  to  form  a  personal  acquaint 
ance  with  you,  which,  I  hope,  will  produce  a  lasting  friendship. 

I  am,  &c. 


LETTER   XXVI. 

FROM  MR.  HECKEWELDER. 

BETHLEHEM,  loth  October,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR. —  I  have  hesitated  whether  I  should  answer  your 
favour  of  the  1st  inst,  being  very  soon  to  set  out  for  Philadel 
phia,  where  I  shall  be  able  to  explain  to  you  verbally  every 
thing  that  you  wish  to  know  in  a  much  better  manner  than  I 
can  do  in  writing.  As  there  are,  however,  but  few  questions 
in  your  letter,  and  those  easily  answered,  I  sit  down  to  satisfy 
your  enquiry,  which  will  for  the  present  close  our  correspond 
ence.  If  you  think  proper  to  resume  it  after  my  return  to  this 
place,  you  will  find  me  as  ready  as  ever  to  continue  our  Indian 
disquisitions. 


THE    INDIAN    LANGUAGES.  43! 

In  the  first  place,  it  cannot,  I  think,  properly  be  said  that  sub 
stantives  in  general  in  the  Delaware  language  have  a  passive 
mood ;  but  there  are  substantives  which  express  a  passive  situa 
tion,  like  those  which  you  have  cited,  after  Mr.  Zeisberger.  I 
do  not  know  of  any  words  which  express  the  same  thing  actively, 
except  the  infinitives  of  active  verbs,  which  are  in  that  case  sub- 
stantively  used.  Such  are, 

Shingalgundin,  to  hate  ;  or  the  hating. 
Machelemuxundin,  to  honour ;  or  the  honouring. 
Mamachkimgundin,  to  insult  (by  words) ;  or  the  insulting. 

The  diminutive  forms  in  the  Indian  are  tit  and  es  ;  the  former 
is  generally  applied  to  animate,  and  the  latter  to  inanimate 
things.  Thus  we  say  lennotit,  a  little  man ;  amementit,  a  little 
child ;  wiqpiamest  a  small  house ;  and  amocholes^  a  small  canoe. 
This  rule  does  not  hold,  however,  in  all  cases ;  for  the  little  fawn 
of  a  deer,  although  animate,  is  called  mamalisy  and  a  little  dog 
among  the  Minsi  is  called  allumes,  (from  alhtm,  a  dog.)  Chis  or 
c/ies,  is  also  a  diminutive  termination,  which  is  sometimes  applied 
to  beasts;  achtochis  and  achtoches,  "a  small  deer." 

Augmentatives  are  compounded  from  the  word  chingue%  which 
signifies  large ;  and  sometimes  the  two  words  are  separately 
used. 

Chingue,  or  m'chingue  puschis,  a  large  cat. 
Chingewileno  (for  chingue  lenno),  a  tall  stout  man. 
Chingotaeney  (for  chingue  otceney),  a  large  town. 
Chingi  wiquam,  a  large  house. 
Chingamochol,  a  large  canoe. 
Chingachgook,  a  large  snake,  &c. 

There  are  a  few  augmentatives  formed  in  a  different  manner; 
for  instance,  from  pachkshican  or  kshican,  "  a  knife,"  are  formed 
pachkschicanes,  "a  small  knife,"  and  m' chonschicanes^  "a  large 
knife  ;"  still  it  is  easy  to  see  that  m'chon,  in  the  latter  word,  is 
derived  from  chingue,  large  or  great,  which,  with  a  little  variation, 
brings  it  within  the  same  rule  with  the  others. 

1  For  ft  Mtckonschictine$**  read  "  M*  chonschican" 


432  CORRESPONDENCE,    ETC. 

You  have,  no  doubt,  observed  in  Zeisberger  the  terminations 
ink  and  unk,  which  express  the  idea  of  locality,  coupled  with  a 
substantive,  as  for  instance : 

Utenink,  or  otsenink,/nw*  otseney,  a  town  ;  in  the  town. 
Utenink  n'da,  I  am  going  to  town,  or  into  the  town. 
Utenink  noom,  I  am  coming  from  within  the  town. 
Sipunk,  (from  sipo)  to  or  into  the  river. 
M'bink,  (from  m'bi)  in  the  water. 
Hakink,  (from  hacki)  in  or  on  the  earth. 
Awossagamewunk,  (from  awossageme),  in  heaven. 
Wachtschunk  n'da,  I  am  going  up  the  hill. 
Wachtschunk  noom,  I  come  from  the  hill. 
Hitgunk,  on  or  to  the  tree. 
Ochunk,  at  his  father's. 

As  you  must  have  observed  that  many  of  our  Indian  names 
of  places  end  with  one  or  other  of  these  terminations,  such  as 
Mjnisink,  Moyamensing,  Passyunk,  &c.,  you  will  understand  that 
all  these  names  are  in  what  we  might  call  the  local  case,  which 
accounts  for  the  great  number  of  those  which  end  in  this  manner. 

I  beg  you  will  not  write  to  me  any  more  for  the  present,  as  I 
do  not  know  how  soon  I  may  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you. 
I  anticipate  great  satisfaction  from  your  acquaintance,  and  hope 
it  will  be  improved  into  a  true  Indian  friendship.  I  am,  &c. 

J.  HECKEWELDER. 


ERRATA   IN   PART   II. 


PAGE  352,  LINE  II  —  For  «  Zeisberger"  read  "Heckewelder" 
359,  24  —  (of  letter  vi.)     For  "from  "  read  "for." 

362,  15  —  For  "  schawandki  "  read  "  schwanameki" 

16  —  For  " chwani"  read  ft ckwami" 

383,  i  —  (from  the  bottom)     For  " k  'lehelleya  "  read  "  k '  lehellecheya." 

386,  21  —  For  "  wulatopnachgat"  read  "  wulaptonachgat" 

23  —  For  "  wulatonamin  "  read  "  wulatcnamin" 
392,  27  —  (of  letter  xvii.)    For  "  manner"  read  "  matter" 

397>  6  and  7  —  For  "  achpansi  "  read  "  achpanschi" 

401,  26  —  For  f< Indian  corn  "  read  "  a  particular  species  of  Indian  corn" 

404,  8  —  For  " ktahoatell"  read  "  ktahoalell" 

18  —  For  " gunich"  read  "gunih." 
410,  12  —  For  "  eliwulek  "  read  "  eluwilek." 

13  —  For  «'  allowilen  "  read  "  allowilek"     For  the  English  transla 

tion  of  these  two  words,  substitute  "  //fo  z«0.r/  extraordinary, 
the  most  wonderful" 

14  —  For  "  eluivantowit "  read  "  eluwannitowit" 
1 6  —  For  "elewassit"  read  "  elewussit" 

1 8  —  For  "  ^^  supremely  good"  read  "  //^^  ww/  ^c>/^  0«<?." 
424,  6  and  7  —  For  "schingieschin  "  read  "  schingiechin." 

429,  9  —  For  " mamschalgussiwagan  "  read  "  mamschalgussowagan" 

II  —  For   "  mamintochimgussowagan  "    read    "  mamintschimgusso- 

wagan" 

431,  4  —  (from  the  bottom)    For  " m ' chonschicanes "  read  "m'chon- 

schican" 


ADDITIONAL   ERRATUM   IN   PART   I. 

PAGE  323,  LINE  34 —  For  "  Indians  "  read  "  traders" 

28  433 


PART   III. 


WORDS,  PHRASES,  AND  SHORT  DIALOGUES, 

IN   THE    LANGUAGE   OF    THE 

LENNI  LENAPE,  OR  DELA  WARE  INDIANS. 
BY  THE   REV.  JOHN   HECKEWELDER, 

OF    BETHLEHEM. 

435 


WORDS,  PHRASES,  ETC., 


OF  THE 


LENNI    LENAPE,  OR  DELAWARE   INDIANS. 


N'mitzi,  I  eat. 
N'gauwi,  I  drink. 
N'wachpacheli,  I  awake. 
N'menne,  I  drink. 
N'papommissi,  I  walk. 
N'gagelicksi,  I  laugh. 
N'mamentschi,  I  rejoice. 
N'daschwil,  I  swim. 
N'manunxi,  I  am  angry. 
N'mikem6si,  I  work. 
N'dellachgusi,  I  climb. 
N'nanipauwi,  I  stand. 
N'lemattachpi,  I  sit. 
Nopo,  nochpo,  n'hoppo,  I  smoke. 
N'schiwelendam,  I  am  sorry. 
N'gattopui,  I  am  hungry. 
N'gatt6somi,  I  am  thirsty. 
N'palsi,  I  am  sick. 
Nolamalsi,  I  am  well. 
N'nipitine,  I  have  the  tooth-ache. 
N'wiline,  I  have  a  head-ache. 
N'wischasi,  I  am  afraid. 
N'wiquihhalla,  /  am  tired. 
N'tschittanesi,  /  am  strong. 
N'schawussi,  I  am  weak,  feeble. 
N'tuppocu,  I  am  wise. 
N'nan6lhand,  I  am  lazy. 


N'pom6chksi,  I  creep. 
N'dellemuske,  I  am  going  away. 
N'gattungwan,  /  am  sleepy. 
Otenink  n'da,  I  am  going  to  town. 
Gel6ltowak,  they  are  quarrelling. 
K'daholel,  I  love  you. 
Kschingalel,  I  hate  you. 
Ponihi,  let  me  alone. 
Palli  aal,  go  away. 
G6tschemunk,  go  out  of  the  house. 
Ickalli  aal,  away  with  you. 
Kschamehella,  run. 
Ne  nipauwi,  stop  there. 
Undach  aal,  come  here. 
Kpahi,  shut  the  door. 
Tauwunni,  open  the  door,  lid,  &c. 
Pisellissu,  soft. 

Pisalatulpe,  soft-shelled  tortoise. 
Kulupatschi,  otherwise,  on  the  other  hand, 
else,  however. 


Nahaliwi,  \ 
Eiyeliwi,   j 


both  (of  them.) 
j 

Leu,  true. 

Attane,  lewi,  it  is  not  true. 
Alia  gaski  lewi,  it  cannot  be  true. 
Bischi,  bischihk,j^,  indeed,  (it  is  so.) 
N'wingallauwi,  I  like  to  hunt. 

437 


INDIAN    WORDS,    PHRASES,    ETC, 


N'winggi  mikem6si,  I  like  to  work. 
N'schingi  mikem6si,  I  don't  like  to  work. 
M'winginammen,  /  like  it. 
N'wingandatnmen,  I  like  the  taste  (of  it). 
N'wingachpihn,  I  like  to  be  here. 
N'schingachpihn,  I  dislike  being  here. 
N'mechquihn,  I  have  a  cold,  cough. 
Undach  lenni,  reach  it  hither. 
Undach  I6nnemauwil,  reach  it  to  me. 
N'gatt6pui,  I  am  hungry. 
N'gattosomi,  I  am  thirsty. 
N'wiquihilla,  I  am  tired,  fatig^^ed. 
N'tschitannessi,  I  am  strong. 
N'schauwihilla,  I  am  weak,  faint. 
N'wischasi,  I  am  afraid. 
N'dapt£ssi,  I  sweat. 
N'dagotschi,  I  am  cold,  freezing. 
N'dellenn6wi,  I  am  a  man. 
N'dochquewi,  I  am  a  woman. 
N'damandommen,  I  feel. 
N'leheleche,  I  live,  exist,  draw  breath. 
L6cheen,  to  exist,  breathe,  draw  breath,  be 

alive. 
Lech6won,  breath. 

Note.  As  we  would  ask  a  person  whom 
we  had  not  seen  for  a  long  time : 
"Are  you  alive  yet?" — or,  is  such 
and  such  a  one  yet  alive  ?  the  In 
dian  would  say : 

Hi  kleheleche  ?  do  you  draw  bteath  yet  ? 
Leheleche  Hi  nitis,  N.  N.  ?  does  my  fa 
vourite  friend  N.  N.  yet  draw  breath  ? 
Gooch   ili    lehelecheu  ?  does  your  father 

draw  breath  yet  ? 

Gahawees     ili     lehelecheu  ?   does     your 
mother  draw  breath-  yet  ? 

N'tschu !  my  friend. 

N'tschutti,  dear,  beloved  friend. 

Nitis,  confidential  friend. 

Geptschat,  a  fool. 

Geptschatschik,  fools. 

Lepp6at,  wise. 

Leppoeu,  hi  is  wise. 

Leppoatschik,  wise  men,  wise  people. 

S6kelaan,  it  rains. 

K'schilaan,  it  rains  hard. 

Pelelaan,  it  begins  to  rain. 

Achwi  s6kelaan,  it  rains  very  hard. 


Alia  s6kelaan,  it  has  left  off  raining. 
Peelhacquon,  it  thunders. 
sasapelehelleu,  it  lightens. 
Petaquiechen,  the  streams  are  rising. 
M'chaquiechen,  the  streams  are  up,  high. 
Chopp£cat,  the  water  is  deep. 
Meetschi  higihelleu,  the  waters  are  fall 
ing. 
Sichilleu  meStschi,  the  waters  have  run 

off. 

Tatehuppecat,  shallow  water. 
ahan,  very  low  water,  next  to  being  dried 
up. 

K'schuppehelleu,  a  strong  current,  riffle. 
Pulpecat,  deep  dead  water,  as  in  a  cove  or 

bay. 
Clampeching,  a  dead  running  stream,  the 

current  imperceptible. 
Kschachan,  the  wind. 
Ta   undchen  ?    from   whence    blows    the 

wind  ? 
Lowanneunk    undchen,  the   wind  comes 

from  the  north. 
Schawanneunk  undchen,  the  wind  comes 

from  the  south. 
Schawanachen,  south  wind. 
Lowannachen,  north  wind. 
Wundchenneunk,  in  the  west. 
Gachpatteyeunk,  in  the  east. 
Moschhaquot,  a  clear  sky. 
Kschiechpecat,  clear  water,  clear,  pure 

water. 

Achgumh6cquat,  cloudy. 
Packenum,  dark,  (very.) 
Pekenink,  in  the  dark. 
Pisgeu,  it  is  dark. 

Pisgeke,  when  it  becomes  dark,  (is  dark.) 
Mah  !  there,  take  it ! 
Yuni,  this. 
Nanni,  nan,  that. 
Wullih,  yonder. 
Wachelemi,  afar  off. 
Wachelemat  ?  is  it  afar  off,  a  great  way 

off? 

Pechuat,  near,  nigh. 
Pechuwiwi,  near,  (not  far  off.) 
Pechutschi,  near. 
Pechu  lennitti,  directly ,  presently . 


INDIAN    WORDS,    PHRASES,    ETC. 


439 


Pechu,  soon,  directly. 
Alige,  if 'so,  nevertheless. 
Alige  n'dallemusca,  /  will  go  for  all,  nev 
ertheless  I  will  go. 

Yu  undachqui !  this  way,  to  this  side  ! 
Icka  undachqui,  to  yon  side. 
Ickalli  undachqui !  still  further  on  that 

way  ! 

Wullih!  yonder! 
Wullih  tah!  beyond  that ! 
Penn6  wullih  !  look  yonder  ! 
Nachgiechen,  it  has  hit  against  something, 

(cannot  move  or  be  driven  forward, )  as 

a  joist,  a  pin  in  a  building. 
Clagachen,  it    rests  on  something  in  the 

water,  is  grounded. 
Clagachen  am6chol,  the  canoe  is  aground, 

rests  on  something. 
Clagachen    aschwitchan,    the    raft    has 

grounded. 

Tauwihilla,  sunk,  it  has  sunk. 
N'damochol  k'tauwihille,  my  canoe  simk. 
Gachpattol  amochol,  take  the  canoe  out  of 

the  water. 
Gachpallatam,  let  us  get  otit  and  go  on 

shore. 

Pusik !  embark!  (ye.) 
Pusil !  embark  !  (thou.) 
Wischiksil !  be   thou   vigilant,  quick,   in 

earnest  and  exert  thyself! 
Wischiksik !  be  ye   vigilant,  in   earnest, 

qttick  !  (about  it.) 

Note.  The  word  wischiksi  or  wisch- 
ixi  is  by  the  white  people  interpreted 
as  signifying  "  be  strong"  which  does 
not  convey  the  true  meaning  of  this 
word :  it  comprehends  more ;  it  asks 
for  exertions  to  be  made,  to  fulfil  the 
object. 

N'petalogalgun  !  /  am  sent  as  a  messen 
ger ! 
N'sagimaum  petalogalgun  yu  petschi,  my 

chief  has  sent  me  as  a  messenger  to  you. 
Malta  nutschquem'pawi,  I  am  not  come  for 

nothing,  (meaning,  being  on  an  errand.) 
Pechu  k'pendammenewo  wentsche  pay- 

an,  you  will  soon  hear  why  I  am  come 

here. 


Tschingetsch  kmatschi  ?  when  do  yozt  re 
turn  home  again  ? 

Se'dpook  !  at  day  break  ! 

N'dellgun  lachpi  gatta  paame,  I  was  told 
to  hasten,  and  return  quickly. 

Lachpi,  quick,  (without  delay.) 

N'mauwi  pihm,  /  am  going  to   take  a 
sweat  (at  the  sweat  house). 

N'dapi  pihm,  /  am  come  from  sweating 
(from  the  sweat  house). 

N'dapellauwi,  I  am  come  from  hunting. 

N'dapi  notamsesi,  /  come  from  taking  fish    / 
with  the  spear. 

N'dapi  a  man,  /  come  from  fishing  with 
the  hook  and  line. 

N'dapi  achquaneman,  I  come  from  bush- 
net  fishing. 

Notameshican,  ajishing  spear,  gig. 

Aman,  a  Jish  hook. 

Achquaneman,  a  bitsh  net. 

Apatschiane,  when  I  return 

Gophammen,  "|  to  shut  up  anything  close, 

K'pahammen,  j       a  door,  &c. 

Kpahi,  shut  the  door. 

Kpaskhamen,  to  plug  up  tight. 

Tauwun,  open  the  door. 

Tauwunni,  open  the  door  for  me. 

M'biak,  a  whale,  (fish.) 

Yuh'  allauwitan  !  come,  let  us  go  a  hunt 
ing  ! 

Nelema  n'metenaxiwi,  I  am  not  yet  ready. 

K'metenaxi  yucke?  are  you  now  ready  ? 

Nelema  ta!  not  yet ! 

Pechu  lenitti,  by  and  by. 

Lahappa  pehil !  wait  a  little  for  me  ! 

Nelema    n'gischambila   niwash !    /  have 
not  yet  done  tying  up  my  pack  ! 

Yuh'  yehiicke  allemusketam !    well  now 
let  us  go  on  ! 

Schuck  sokelaan  gachtauwi !  but  it  will 
rain  ! 

Quanna  ta !  even  if  it  does,  no  matter  if  it 
does  ! 

Alia  kschilange,  when  the  shower  is  over. 

Ta    hatsch    gemauwikeneen  ?    at    what 
place  shall  we  encamp  ? 

Wdiungoakhannink,    at    the    white    oak 


440 


INDIAN    WORDS,    PHRASES,    ETC. 


Enda   gochgochgachen,  at  the  crossing, 
for  ding-place. 

Enda    tachtschaunge,    at    the    narrows, 

(where   the   hill   comes    close  on  the 

river.) 

Meechek  achsinik,  at  the  big  rock. 
Gauwahenink,  at  the  place  of  the  fallen 

timbers. 

Sikheunk,  at  the  salt  spring. 
Pachseyink,  in  the  valley. 
Wachtschunk,  on  the  hill. 
Yapewi,  on  the  river  bank. 
Gamink,  on  the  other  side  of  the  river. 
Eli  shingeek,  on  the  fiat,  (level  upland.) 
Mah6nink,  at  the  lick,  (deer  lick.) 
Otenink,  in  the  town. 
Te"kenink,  in  the  woods. 
Hachkihacanink,  in  the  field. 
Pockhapockink,  at  the  creek  between  the 

two  hills. 

Menatheink,  on  the  island. 
Enda   lechauhanne,  at  the  forks  of  the 

river. 
Enda  lechauwiechen,  at  the  forks  of  the 

road. 
Sakunk,  at  the  outlet  of  the  river,  (mouth 

of  the  river.) 

T'huppecunk,  at  the  cold  spring. 
K'mesha?  did  you  kill  a  deer? 
Atta,  n'palle'ha!  no,  I  missed  him  ! 
Yuh'  allacqui !  what  a  pity  ! 
Biesch  knewa  ?  then  you  did  see  one  ? 
Nachen  n'newa  achuch,///r^  times  I  savv 

deer. 
Quonna   eet  kpungum   machtit,  perhaps 

your  powder  is  bad. 

Na  leu,  that  is  true,  so  it  turned  out  to  be. 
Achtschingi  pockteu,  it  scarcely  took  fire. 
Achtuchuike  we'rnan?  are  there  plenty  of 

deer  where  you  was? 
Atta  ta  husca,  not  a  great  many. 
Nangutti  schuck  n'peenhalle,  I  saw  but 

few  tracks. 
Machk    kpenhalle  ?   did  you   track   any 

bears  ? 
Biesch  n'penhalle  mauchsu,  I  tracked  but 

one. 
Schuck  n'dallemons  mekane,  but  my  dog. 


Palli  uchschiha,  drove  him  off. 

N'gatta   amoch6lhe,  /  want  to   make   a 

canoe. 

Witschemil !  help  me  ! 
N'pachkamen  gachtauwi,  /  want  to  get 

bled. 

Yuh,  nanne  leketsch,  well  do  so,  let  it  be  so. 
N'matamalsi,  I  feel  unwell. 
Woak  n'nipitine,  and  have  the  tooth-ache. 
Witschemil !  help  me  ! 
Ponihil,  let  me  alone. 
Tschitgussil !  be  still,  hold  your  tongue! 
Kschahel !  strike  hard,  lay  on  well !  (on 

wood,  &c.) 

Mileen,  to  give,  the  giving. 
Mil,  give. 
Mili,  give  me. 
Milineen,  give  us. 
Miltin,  given,  (was  already.) 
Miltoagan,  a  present. 
N'milgun,  it  was  given  to  me. 
Milo,  give  him. 
Milatamo,  let  us  give  him. 
Sehe!  hush,  be  quiet ! 
Elke  !    O  dear,  wonderful! 
Ekesa !  miserable,  for  shame  ! 
Suppinquall,  tears. 
Lepacku,  he  cries. 
E  gohan,  yes,  indeed. 
Kehella,  aye,  yes. 
Kehella  ?  so,  is  it  possible  ? 
Kehella  la  !    O  yes,  so  it  is  ! 
Yuh  kehella !  well,  then  ! 
La  kella  !  to  be  szire,  '/  is  so  ! 
Kehella  kella  !  yes,  yes  ! 
E-E,  yes,  (a  lazy  yes.) 
Malta,  no. 
Ta,  no,  (a  lazy  no.) 
Tagii,  no,  not. 
Atta  ta,  no,  no. 
Eekhockewitschik    mamachtag^wak,  the 

nations  are  warring  against  each  other. 
Yuh  allacqui  na  lissichtit,  indeed  it  is  a 

pity  they  do  so. 
Napenaltowaktsche,  they  will  be  scalping 

each  other. 
Auween  won  gintsch  pat  ?   who  is  thai 

zuhojttst  now  came? 


INDIAN    WORDS,    PHRASES,    ETC. 


441 


Taktaani,  I  don't  know. 

Mauwi  penn6,  go  and  see. 

Auween  khackev?  who  are  you?  (of  what 

nation.) 
Lennape  n'hackey,  /  am  an  Indian,  (of 

the  Lenni  Lenape.) 
Ta  koom?  where  do  you  come  from? 
Ote'nink  noom,  I  come  from  the  town. 
Auween    kpetschi,    witscheuchgun  ?  who 

came  with  you  here  ? 
Na  nipauwit,  he  who  stands  there. 
Lennape?  is  he  an  Indian?  (  a  Lenni 

Lenape.) 
Tah,  Mengwe,  no,  he  is  a  Mingo,  an  Iro- 

quois. 
Kpetschi  witscheuchgun  otenink  untschi  ? 

did  he  come  with  you  from  the  town  ? 
Malta!  n'mattelukgun,  no!  he  fell  in  with 

me  (by  the  way). 
Ta  talli  ?  where  ? 
Wulli  tah   achtschaunge !  yonder  at  the 

narrows  ! 

Ki  gieschquike?  this  day  ?  (to-day.) 
Atta!  welaquike,  no  !  last  evening. 
Kcecu  undochwe  wentschi  yu  paat?  what 

is  he  come  here  for,  what  is  he  after  ? 
Taktani,  schuck  n'tschupinawe !  I  don't 

know,  but  I  mistrust  him  ! 
Tcshpinaxu    gahenna,  he   appears  suspi 
cious,  has  a  suspicious  appearance. 
Gichgemotket  quonna,  probably  he  is  a 

thief. 

Wewitschi  eet,  most  likely,  (he  is  such.) 
N'gemotemuke    n'dallemons    nechnaun- 

ges,    my   horse   has   been   stolen  from 

me. 
Wichwinggi  gemotgewak  Menge,/>#<? Min~ 

goes  are  very  fond  of  stealing. 
Yuh  amachgidieu,  they  are  vagabonds. 
Gachtingetsch,  next  year. 
Lehelechejane,  Jf  I  live,  (or  am  alive.) 
Gamhackinktsch  n'da,  I  will  go  across  the 

sea,  (or  more   properly)  to  the  country 

beyond  the  sea. 
Clamachphil !  sit  still! 
Schiki  a  na  Lenno,  that  is  a  fine,  pretty 

man. 
Quatsch  luppackhan  ?  why  do  you  cry  ? 


N'nilchgun  na  nipauwit,  he  that  stands 

there  struck  me. 
Uchschimo  meetschi,  he  has  already  ran 

off,  made,  away  with  himself. 
T'chunno  !  catch  him  ! 
Gachbilau !  tie  him  ! 
Lachdnau  !  let  him  loose  ! 
Weemi,  or  wemi  auween  lue,  everybody 

says. 
Wigwingi  gelolt6ak  schwannakwak,  that 

the  white  people  are  fond  of  quarrelling. 
N'matunguam,  I  had  a  bad  dream. 
N'matschi,  I  will  go  home. 
Siquonne  lappitsch  knewi  lehellecheyan  ! 

in  the  spring  you  will  see  me  again  if 

I  am  alive  ! 

Yuh,  schuck  mamschali !  well,  biit  do  re 
member  me  ! 

Natsch  leu,  it  shall  be  so,  that  shall  be  done. 
N'nuntschimke,  I  have  been  called. 
Auween  guntschimgun  ?  who  called  you  ? 
N'dochqueum,  my  wife. 
N'nitsch   undach    aal !    come   hither   my 

child! 

Lachpi !  quick  ! 

Nayu  nipauwi  (or  nipawi),  there  stand. 
Pell  ah,  indeed,  surely,  so  so. 
Petalamo  auween,  somebody  sounds  (calls 

out)  the  alarm  yell,  (signifying  dangei 

at  hand.) 

Yuh,  shimoftam  !  come,  let  us  run  off  I 
Nelema  ta?  not  yet ! 
Quanna  eet   auween   gatta   napenalgun  ! 

perhaps   somebody  is  coming  to   attack 

and  scalp  us  ! 

Wewitschi  ztf.,  probably,  may-be. 
Pennau !  look  ! 

Wulli  ta  pepannik !  yonder  they  are  com 
ing ! 

Auween  knewa?  who  do  you  see? 
Machelook,  or  chelook   schwannakwak, 

many  white  people. 
Papomiscuak  ?  are  they  on  foot  ? 
Alende,  some  of  them. 
Schuk  matta  weemi,  bttt  not  all  of  them. 
Gachtonalukguntsch     matta    uchschimui- 

6nge,  we  shall  be  attacked  if  we  do  not 

make  off  with  ourselves. 


442 


INDIAN    WORDS,    PHRASES,    ETC. 


Yuh,  uchschimuitam  alige,  well  then,  let 
us  make  off  at  any  rate. 

Mattapewiwak  nik  schwannakwak,  the 
"white  people  are  a  rascally  set  of  be 
ings. 

Kilun6wak  wingi,  they  are  giving  to  ly 
ing. 

Kschinggalguna  gehenna,  they  hate  us 
truly. 

Gemotemukguna  wingi,  they  like,  are  dis 
posed  to  rob  us,  are  thieves  upon  ^ls. 

Yuh,  gachtonalatam  !  well,  let  us  fall  up 
on  them,  attack  them. 

Longundowinaquot,  it  looks  likely  for 
peace,  there  is  a  prospect  of  peace. 


Pennau  won  !  look  at  that  one  ! 
Achgieuchsu,  he  is  drunk. 
Achgepingwe,  he  is  blind. 
Achg6pcheu,  he  is  deaf. 
Kpitscheu,  he  is  foolish. 
S6psu,  he  is  naked. 
Mamanunxu,  he  is  angry. 
Schaaksu,  he  is  covetotis. 
Pihmt6nheu,  he  has  a  crooked  mouth. 
Ilau,  he  is  a  great  war -captain. 
Sakimau,  he  is  a  chief. 
Kschamehellatam,  let  us  run  together. 
Tipaas,  a  hen.     Tipatit,  a  chicken. 
Tsch6lens,  a  bird.     Tscholentit,  a  little 
bird. 


INDEX. 


A  BBOTT,  RACHEL,  341. 
XI  Abenakis,  a    name  of  the    Lenape, 

xliii.,  121,  123,  126. 
Acadia,  inhabited  by  the  Souriqttois,  etc., 

121. 

Achsinning,  184. 

Achtschingi  clammui,  199. 

Adair,  James  I.,  126. 

Adehmg's  MitJiridates,  124. 

Ahouandate  or  Wyandots,  xliv. 

Albany,  xxx.,  xxxi.,  6l. 

Albany  River,  the,  120. 

Algonquins,  the,  95;  language,  1 21,  122, 

123,  124. 

Allegheny  River,  the,  84,  294. 
Alligewi  or  Allegheny,  the,  48,  53,  126. 
Alligewi  Sipu,  the  Allegheny  River,  48. 
Anderson,  John,  a   Quaker   trader,    241 

et  seq. 

Apalaches  or  Wapanachkis,  the,  126. 
Apalachian  nation,  the,  126. 
Aquanoshioni,  national  name  of  the  Six 

Nation  Indians,  96,  97,  98. 
Arundel  and  Robbins,  Messrs.,  173- 
Assiniboils  or  Sioux,  the,  119,  123. 
Assinipoetuk,  the,  119. 
Aubrey,  Lsetitia,  336. 

•pARTHOLINUS,  KASPER,  118. 
-D  Barton's  New  Views,  121,  122,  126. 
Bear,  the  naked,  255. 
Belts  of  Wampum,  109. 
Benezet,  John  Stephen,  xxx. 
Bethlehem,  xxx.;     Indians    at,    85,    90, 

91..  92,  251,332. 
Beverwyck,  xxxi. 
Big  Beaver  River,  190,  196. 
Blackfoot  Indians,  1 21. 
Boudinot,  Elias,  331. 


Brodhead,  General  Daniel,  70,  237. 
Butterfield's         Crawford's        Campaign 
against  Sandusky  referred  to,  284. 

pALHOON,    THOMAS,    an     Indian 

^   trader,  270. 

Canada,  xxxvi.,  56,  85,  93,  120,  121,  126, 

342. 

Canai  or  Kanhawas,  the,  xliv.,  90,  122. 

Canajoharie,  xxxi. 

Canaways,  the,  xliv. 

Canawese,  the,  xliv. 

Canibas,  the,  121. 

Carolina,  xxxii.,  xxxvii. 

Carolina,  North,  122. 

Carver,  Captain  Jonathan,  1 19 ;  his  "  Three 
Years'1  Travel  through  the  interior 
parts  of  North- America^  ibid.;  268, 
322;  quoted,  324,  339. 

Catawbas,  the,  126. 

Cayahaga,  Delaware  preacher  at,  291. 

Cayahaga  River,  85.  , 

Cayugas,  the,  96,  99. 

Chaktawas,  the,  126. 

Chapman,  Abraham,  and  John,  67. 

Chapman,  a  Jew  trader,  257. 

Chaquaquock,  Indian  name  for  the  Eng 
lish,  142. 

Charlevoix,  Father,  123,  124,  331. 

Chemenk,  91,  92. 

Chenos,  an  old  Indian,  brings  down  rain, 
236. 

Cherokees,  the,  64,  65,  88,  89,  95;  lan 
guage  of,  119,  171,  327. 

Chesapeake  Bay,  50. 

Chickesaws,  the,  125. 

Chmgleclamoose,  199. 

Chippeways  or  Algonquins,  language  of, 
119;  xl.,  90, 124,  130,  144,  176,  212. 
443 


444 


INDEX. 


Choctaws,  the,  1 25. 
Christian  Indians,  xl. 
Christinaux,  the,  123. 
Clavigero,  the  Abbe,  331. 
Cochnevvagoes,  the,  a  mixed  race  of  In 
dians,  93. 
Coghnewago,  52. 
Coghnewago  Hills,  52. 
Golden,  Cadwallader,   his  History  of  the 

Five  Indian  Nations  quoted,  xxxii., 

xxxiv.,  xliii.,  55>  I2O< 
Collections  of  Maps,   Historical  Society, 

referred  to,  93,  94. 

Colonial  Records  of  Penna.,  xxxv.,  178. 
Conecocheague,  341. 
Conestoga  Indians,  the  murder  of,  68,  80, 

184,  192. 
Connecticut,  94. 
Conois,  the,  xliv. 
Cornplanter,  the,  1 1 2. 
Cornstalk,  the,  89,  184. 
Coshocton,  237. 
Crantz,  David,  a  Moravian  historian,  his 

History    of  Greenland  referred   to, 

118. 
Crawford.  Col.  William,    133;    tortured 

by  Indians,  284 ;  dialogue  with  Capt. 

Wingenund,  285. 
Creeks,  the,  95,  1 21,  125. 
Cushman,  the  Rev.  Mr.,  of  the  Plymouth 

Colony,  330. 

DAVID,  a  Moravian  Indian,  166. 
David's  Path,  1 68. 
De  Laet,  126. 
Delamattenos,  the,  80. 
De  la  Ware,  Lord,  xliii. 
Delaware  hunter  and  the  bear  (anecdote), 

255- 

Delaware  Water  Gap,  264. 
Denmark,  1 19. 
Detroit,  xl.,  49,  55,  108,  no,  119,   121, 

133,  144,  171,  174,  226,  230,  258, 

284. 

Detroit  Gazette  quoted,  243. 
Doctol,  Indian  for  Doctor,  231. 
Duncan,  David,  280. 
Dunmore's  War,  89,  263,  278. 


Du  Ponceau  to  Heckewelder,  letters  of, 

353,   364,  369,  376,  379>  387,  392» 

403,  416,  426. 

Du  Ponceau  to  Wistar,  letter  of,  359. 
Du  Pratz,  126. 
Dutch,  Indian  account  of  their  arrival  in 

New  York,  71  et  seq.  ;  xxx.,  xxxii., 

xxxiii.,  xxxiv.,  xxxviii.,  61,  74,  75. 
Dutchemaan,  the  Dutch  so  called  by  the 

Indians,  60,  77. 
Du  Vallon,  126. 

E ASTON,  xxxv.,  79,  168,  303. 
Edwards,  Bryan,  331. 
Edwards,    the    Rev.    Jonathan,  94,   125, 

127. 

Egede,  P.,  118. 

Eliot,  the  Rev.  John,  94,  125,  127. 
Elliot,  Matthew,  152. 
Enda    Mohatink,    "  where   human  flesh 

was  eaten"  200. 
Esquimaux  Indians,  118. 
Etchemins,  the  country  of  the,  121. 
Evans,  Mr.,  murder  of,  at  Pittsburg,  ill. 

FLORIDA  Indians,  95,  347. 
Floridian  languages,  125. 
Forks  of  Delaware,  the,  86. 
Fort  Allen,  166,  333. 
Fort  Duquesne,  86. 
Fort  Harmar,  112. 
Fort  Mclntosh,  173,  219. 
Fort  Washington,  183. 
Franklin  at  Fort  Allen,  1 66. 
Freeman,  Mr.,  an    Indian    Peace    Com 
missioner,  182. 

French  and  Indian  War,  the,  67,  88. 
French  Missionaries,  119. 

p  AASCHTINICK  or  Albany,  60. 

^J  Gachgawatschiqua,  a  Shawano  chief, 

86. 

Gambold,  the  Rev.  John,  126. 
Gelelemend    or    Killbuck,    a  Delaware 

chief,  233 ;   biographical    sketch  of, 

ibid. 

Gentellemaan  (gentleman),  iSS. 
Georgia,  86,  121. 


INDEX. 


445 


Gibson,  Col.  John,  biographical  sketch  of, 
48;  letter  to  the  Rev.  N.  Seidel,  82, 

85,  132- 

Girty,  Simon,  152,  279. 

Gladwyn,  Major,  at  Detroit,  108. 

Glicanican  or  Indian  tobacco,  212. 

Glikhican,  Isaac,  a  Moravian  Indian,  341. 

Gnadenhiitten  on  the  Mahoning,  91. 

Goshachking,  237,  295,327.  (SeeCoshoc- 
ton.) 

Greenland,  inhabitants  of,  118;  Mora 
vian  mission  in,  ibid. 

Greentown,  incident  occurring  at,  144. 

Greenville,  treaty  of,  xli.,  298. 

Guyandots,  the,  xliv. 

HARDIN,  Mr.,  an  Indian  Peace  Com 
missioner,  182. 
Harris,  John,  on  the  site  of  Harrisburg, 

90.  , 

Heckewelder,  the  Rev.  John  G.  E.,  bio 
graphical  sketch  of,  vii.— xiv. ;  at  De 
troit,  144  ;  in  Upper  Canada,  1 68  ;  on 
the  Muskingum,  102, 171 ;  associated 
with  Gen.  R.  Putnam,  183  ;  on  the 
Big  Beaver,  190;  at  Tuscarawas, 
205;  at  Lower  Sandusky,  219;  at 
New  Gnadenhiitten  on  the  Huron, 
226;  dialogue  with  Killbuck,  234; 
dialogue  with  Chenos,  237;  his  "Col 
lection  of  the  names  of  chieftains  and 
eminent  men  of  the  Delaware  Na 
tion'''  alluded  to,  270;  general 
observations  and  anecdotes,  310  et 
seq ;  at  Post  Vincennes,  311 ;  at  Ma 
rietta,  312;  advice  to  travellers, 
3i8. 

Heckewelder  to  Du  Ponceau,  letters  of, 

361,  37i,  375.  380,  383,  395.  399, 
409,  414,  422,  430. 
Heckewelder  to  Wistar,  letters  of,  356, 

358. 

Henry,  Judge  William,  of  Lancaster,  82. 
Hermit's  Field,  the,  200. 
Hervas,  126. 

Holland,  Luke,  a  Delaware,  178  et  seq. 
Hoosink,  255. 
Hudson's  Bay  Company,  the,  118,  120. 


Huron  River,  now  the  Clinton,  93. 
Hurons,  the,  xliv.;    disunited   from    the 
Iroquois,  119;  language  of,  122. 

ICELAND,  119. 
Indiana  Territory,  85. 
Indian  Grammars  by  the  Spaniards,  127. 
Indians,  their  historical  traditions,  47. 
mounds  and  fortifications,  48,  49. 
treatment  of,  by  the  Europeans,  76  etseq. 
general  character,  100  et  seq. 
belief  in  an  all-wise  and  good  Creator, 

or  Mannito,  101. 
hospitality,  101. 
civility,  103. 
humor  and  wit,  104. 
respect  for  the  aged,  104,  163  et  seq. 
sense  of  justice,  105. 
form  of  government,  107. 
education  of  their  children,  113  et  seq. 
signs  and  hieroglyphics,  127  et  seq. 
drawings,  130. 
hunters'  marks,  131. 
oratory,  132. 

metaphorical  expressions,  137  et  seq. 
names  given  their  own  people  and  the 

whites,  141  et-seq. 

intercourse  with  each  other,  145  et  seq. 
«  political  manoeuvres,  150  et  seq. 
manner  of  marriage  and  treatment  of 

their  wives,  154  et  seq. 
pride  and  greatness  of  mind,  170  et  seq. 
wars   and    the   causes    which   lead   to 

them,  175. 
manner   of  surprising  an  enemy,  177 

et  seq. 

peace-messengers,  181  etseq. 
treaties  of  peace,  185  et  seq. 
ill  treatment  by  the  whites,  187  et  seq. 
food,  and  the  manner  of  preparing  it, 

193  et  seq. 

dress,  and  love  of  ornaments,  202  et  seq. 
dances,  songs,  and  sacrifices,  208  et  seq. 
scalp-whoops  or  yells,  215  et  seq. 
alarm-whoop,  217. 
death -halloo,  ib. 
physical  constitution  and  diseases,  220 

et  seq. 


446 


INDEX. 


Indians,  materia  medico.,  224  et  seq. 

sweat-ovens,  225. 

physicians  and  surgeons,  228  et  seq. 

doctors  or  jugglers,  231  et  seq. 

superstitions,  239  et  seq. 

manner  of  initiating  boys,  245. 

system  of  mythology,  249. 

coats-of-arms,  252. 

behaviour  towards  the  insane,  and  their 
ideas  regarding  suicide,  257  et  seq. 

drunkenness,  261  et  seq. 

funerals,  268  et  seq. 

friendships,  277  et  seq. 

preachers  and  prophets,  290  et  seq. 

computation  of  time,  306  et  seq. 

astronomical  and  geographical  knowl 
edge,  308  et  seq. 

general  character  compared  with  that 

of  the  whites,  328  et  seq. 
Iroquois,  the,  95  et  seq.  ;  supplied  by  the 
English  with  fire-arms,   xxxii. ;    the 
name  given  to    the  Six  Nations  by 
the  French,  xliv. ;  the  language,  119; 
in  the  State  of  New  York,  121. 
Irvine,  General  William,  letter  to  Wm. 
More,  8 1 ;    letter  from  Washington, 
284. 


JEFFERSON,  THOMAS,  122. 
Johnson,  Sir  William,  68,  120. 
Juniata    River,   Shawanose   on    the,  86, 
.87. 


KANAWHA,  the  Great,  89,  184. 
Karalit,  language  of  the,  1 1 8. 

Kickapoos,  the,  121. 

Killbuck  or  Gelelemend,  233 ;  dialogue 
with  Heckewelder,  234. 

Killistenoes,  the,  95,  322. 

Knisteneaux,  the,  95. 

Knox,  H.,  Secretary    of  War,  letter   to 
Heckewelder,  311. 

Koguethagechton,  Indian  name  of  Capt. 
White  Eyes,  280. 

Kuequenaku,  the  Indian  name  of  Phila 
delphia,  142. 


T    ABRADOR,  118. 

JLv  La  Chine,  a  murderous  affair  between 
two  Indians  at,  105. 

Laehauwake,  Easton,  79- 

La  Hontan,  Father,  xliii.,  119;  list  of 
Indian  nations,  121,  122,  124. 

Lake  Erie,  49,  85. 

Lake  St.  Clair,  49. 

Languages,  Indian,  118  et  seq. 

Las  Casas,  331. 

Leather  Lips,  a  Wyandot  chief,  297 ; 
death  of,  298. 

Lehigh  Hills,  52. 

Lehigh  River,  the,  52. 

Lehigh  Water  Gap,  the,  91,  234,  334. 

Lehighton,  site  of  Gnadenhtitten  on  the 
Mahoning,  xxxi. 

Lenapewihittuck,  the  Delaware  River, 
51,78. 

Lenni  Lenape,  national  name  of  the  Dela- 
wares,  xxvi.  ;  were  they  or  were 
they  not  conquered  by  the  Mengwe  ? 
xxvii.  et  seq.;  xlii. ;  wars  with  the 
Iroquois,  xxvii.;  settle  on  the  Atlantic 
coast,  xxviii. ;  made  women  by  the 
Iroquois,  xxix.;  on  New  York  Island, 
xxxvii. ;  in  the  far  West,  47  ;  on  the 
Mississippi,  49 ;  confederated  with 
the  Mengwe  to  fight  the  Allegewi, 
50 ;  on  Chesapeake  Bay,  ib.;  on  the 
Delaware,  51;  consent  to  become 
women,  58 ;  seek  to  gain  their 
independence,  62;  take  up  arms 
against  the  English,  68;  assert  their 
national  independence,  70;  their  fate 
subsequent  to  1763,  and  that  of  their 
kindred  tribes,  83  et  seq.  ;  their  num 
ber,  85;  language,  121,  124;  song  of 
the  warriors,  2II;;  words,  phrases, 
etc.,  431  et  seq.  ;  Tortoise,  Turkey, 
and  Wolf  tribes  of,  51,  52,  253. 

Lincoln,  Gen.  Benjamin,  105. 

Logan,  the  well-known  Indian  chief,  89; 
his  celebrated  speech,  132. 

Lord's  Prayer,  the,  in  the  Delaware,  424, 

Loskiel,  the  Rev.  George  H.,  biographi 
cal  sketch  of,  xxix. ;  his  History  of 
the  Mission  of  the  United  Brethren 


INDEX. 


447 


among  the  Indians  of  North  Amer 
ica  "  referred  to,  xxix.,  xxx.,  xxxvii., 
xl.,  48;  quoted  in  full  touching  the 
making  women  of  the  Delawares  by 
the  Iroquois,  59;  referred  to,  70,  85, 
86,  88,  90,  92,  97,  126,  134;  quoted, 
206;  referred  to,  213,  341. 
Lower  Sandusky,  159,  173. 


Tlf  ^ECHACHTINNI,  the  name  given 

iVl   by  the  Lenape  to  the  Senecas,  99. 

Machtitschwanne,  or  Massachusetts,  77. 

Mackenzie,  Alexander,  1 2 1. 

Mahicanni  or  Mohicans,  xliii.,  53;  their 
account  of  the  Iroquois  making 
women  of  the  Delawares,  60  ;  Mora 
vian  mission  among  them,  93  ;  called 
Mahingans,  xliii.,  121. 

Mahikanders  or  Mohicans,  xliii. 

Maine,  Province  of,  xxviii.,  1 2 1. 

Manahachtanienk,  New  York  Island,  77, 
262. 

Maqua,  the  Mohican  name  of  the  Six 
Nations,  xliv.,  98. 

Marietta,  311,  312. 

Maryland,  53,  91,  92,  122. 

Matassins,  the,  123. 

McKee,  Alexander,  152. 

Mechanschican,  i.e. Long  Knives,  142,143. 

Meigs,  Return  Jonathan,  U.  S.  Agent  to 
the  Cherokees,  1 26. 

Memorials  of  the  Moravian  Church  re 
ferred  to,  302. 

Mengwe,  Delaware  name  of  the  Six  Na 
tions,  xxvi. ;  in  the  Great  Lake  re 
gion,  50;  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  54; 
their  treachery  toward  the  Lenni 
Lenape,  54,  64,  68,  98. 

Messissaugees,  the,  121. 

Miamis  or  Twightwees,  xli. ;  of  Lenape 
origin,  1 21  ;  their  country,  93. 

Michael,  a  Monsey  buried  at  Bethlehem, 
206  et  seq. 

Micmacs,  the,  121. 

Minisink,  the  country  of  the  Minsis,  52. 

Mingoes,  name  given  to  the  Six  Nations 
by  the  whites,  xliv.,  98,  130. 


Minsis  or  Monseys,  52,  53,  84,  85,  123, 

124. 
Miquon,    Delaware    name    of    William 

Penn,  66,  78,  142. 
Mississippi    River,    the,    xxvii.,    xxxii., 

xxxvii.,  47,  49,  51,  85,  95,  118. 
Mitchell,  Mr.,  U.  S.  Agent  to  the  Creeks, 

126. 

Mobilians,  the,  126. 
Mohawks,    the,   xxxiv.,    xxxv.,   61,   96, 

99- 
Mohicanichtuck,  Hudson's  River,xxxviii., 

52,  53,  75- 

Mohicans,  xxviii.,  xxx.,  xxxiii.,  71,  86. 

Monongahela  River,  the,  87. 

Monsonies,  the,  123. 

Montreal,  105. 

Moravian  Indians,  the,  xl.,  8 1 ;  settle  at 
Wyalusing,  83,  197  ;  settle  on  the 
Muskingum,  84,  85  ;  at  Philadelphia, 
1 66;  grant  of  lands  by  Congress  to, 
1 68;  on  the  Retrenche,  ibid. ;  near 
Detroit,  176;  murder  of,  on  the 
Muskingum,  184,  283. 

Morgan,  Col.  George,  300. 

Mourigans  or  Mohicans,  xliii. 

Muhheekanes  or  Mohicans,  xliii. 

Munsell's  Collections  of  tfye  History  of 
Albany  quoted,  xxxi. 

Muskanecun  Hills,  the,  52. 

Muskingum  or  Tuscarawas  River,  xl.,  84, 
85,  102,  112,  171,  180,  252. 

Muskohgees  or  Creeks,  125. 


VTAMAESI  SIPU,  the  Mississippi  River, 

ll      47,49,51. 

Nanticokes,  the,  xxviii.,  xliii.,  53,  83, 90  et 

seq.,  122. 
Natchez,  the,  126. 
Natick  dialect,   the,  125;    Eliot's  Bible 

in  the  Natick,  94. 
Naudowessies,  the,  95,  119,  268. 
Nazareth,  Capt.   John   at,  52,  220;    the 

Barony,  336. 

Nentico  or  Nanticoke,  xliv. 
Nescopeck,  91,  166,  333. 
New  England,  xxxii.,  71. 


448 


INDEX. 


New  London,  94. 

New  York  Island,  xxxvi.,  xxxvii.,  72,  208. 

Niagara,  xl.,  174. 

Nocharauorsul,  the  ground  hog,  myth  of, 

251. 

Nordmann's  Kill,  xxx.,  xxxi.,  xxxv. ,60,61 . 
North  River,  the,  xxxvii.,  51. 
Nova  Scotia,  121,  123. 

OHIO,  an  Iroquois  word,  48 ;  the  river, 
84,  86,  87,  339. 

Onas,  Iroquois  for  William  Penn,  142. 

Oneida,  93. 

Oneidas,  the,  96,  99. 

Ongwe-honwe,  the  name  given  them 
selves  by  the  Iroquois,  xxxiv. 

Onondagoes,  the,  96,  99. 

Openagi,  the,  xliii. 

Openangoes,  the,  121. 

Otayachgo,  Mohican  name  of  the  Nan- 
ticokes,  92. 

Ottawas,  the,  xl.,  xli. 

Owl  Creek,  168. 

PACHGANTSCHIHILAS,  a   Deia- 

1        ware  chief,  80. 

Papunhank,  a  Monsey,  197. 

Pascagoulas,  the,  125. 

Paxnos,  a  Shawano  chief,  88. 

Penn,  William,  66,  107,  331. 

Pequods,  the,  94. 

Perth  Amboy,  148. 

Philadelphia,  Shawanose  on  the  site  of, 
86 ;  Indians  on  the  site  of,  148. 

Pilgerruh,  a  Moravian  Mission,  85. 

Pine  Plains,  Dutchess  Co.,  N.  Y.,  93. 

Pine  Swamp,  the,  1 66,  200. 

Pipe,  a  Delaware  chief,  biographical 
sketch  of,  133 ;  speech  at  Detroit, 
ibid.,  151,  152,  I53>338,347. 

Pipe  of  Peace,  109. 

Pittsburg,  69,  70,  86;  Mr.  Evans  mur 
dered  at,  in,  184,  190,  192,  279. 

Point  Pleasant,  89,  184. 

Pontiac,  108. 

Potomac  River,  the,  51,  90. 
Pottowatomies,  the,  xli.,  121. 


'roctor,  General  Thomas,  295. 
roud's  History  of  Pennsylvania  quoted, 
67. 

Dsindamocan,  a  preparation  of  Indian 
corn,  195. 

Putnam,  General  Rufus,  183,  311. 

Pyrlseus,  the  Rev.  J.  Christopher,  bio 
graphical  sketch  of,  xxx. ;  his  collec 
tion  of  Indian  traditions  in  MS.,  54  ; 
account  of  the  conspiracy  of  the  Five 
Nations  quoted,  56;  quoted,  61,  91, 
96;  Indian  tradition  quoted,  251, 
347- 

r\UAEKELS,  Quakers  so  called  by  the 
\J,     Indians,  143. 
Quebec,  78. 

RAUCH,  CHRISTIAN  HENRY,  a 
Moravian  Missionary,  93. 

River  Indians,  Mohicans  so  called, 
xxxiv.,  xliii. 

Robbins  and  Arundel,  Messrs.,  173. 

Rochefort,  126. 

Rocky  Mountains,  118. 

Rogers's  Key  into  the  Langitage  of  the  In 
dians  of  Arew  England  referred  to, 
142. 

Rosenbaum,  Cornelius,  a  Delaware,  264 ; 
dialogue  with  Heckewelder,  265. 

SAGARD,  FATHER  SAMUEL,  xliv.; 
his  Dictionary,  120,  127. 
Samuel,  a  Moravian  Indian,  220. 
Sandusky,  153, 172;  Crawford's  campaign 

against,  284. 
Sankhicanni,  name  given  by  the  Lenape 

to  the  Mohawks,  99. 
Savannah,  86,  121. 
Schatikooks  or  Mohicans,  xliii. 
Scheyichbi,  Indian  name  of  New  Jersey, 

Si- 

Schussele's  painting,  "  The  Power  of  the 

Gospel,"  294. 
Schuylkill  River,  the,  86. 
Schwannack,  i.  e.,  "salt  beings,"  142. 
Schweinitz's  Life  of  Zehberger   referred 

to,  63,  8l. 


INDEX. 


449 


Senecas,  55,  69,  96,  99. 

Sganarady,  a  Mohawk  chief's  account  of 

the  origin  of  the  Indians,  61,  250. 
Sganiateratich-rohne,  the  Iroquois  name 

of  the  Nanticokes,  92. 
Shamokin,  91,  178. 
Shawanose,  the,  xxxix.,  xli.,  85  et  seq.  ; 

121,   130. 

Shechschequon,  91. 

Shenango,  91. 

Shikilimus  at  Shamokin,  88. 

Shingask,  269;  funeral  of  his  wife, 270  etseq. 

Shummunk,  91. 

Silver  Heels,  a  Shawano,  278. 

Sioux  or  Assiniboils,  the,  119. 

Six  Nations  or  Mengwe,  their  manner  of 
attaining  to  power,  xxxii.  et  seq. ;  how 
they  lost  their  power,  xxxix.  et  seq.  ; 
xliv. ;  eat  human  flesh,  55;  unable 
to  conquer  the  Delawares,  56;  their 
scheme  to  make  women  of  the  Del 
awares,  ib.;  insult  the  Delawares,  67, 
119. 

Snake  Indians,  the,  12 1. 

Soccokis,  the,  121. 

Souriquois,  the,  1 21. 

Sproat,  Col.  Ebenezer,  312. 

"Sfar  in  the  West,  A"  referred  to,  331. 

Steiner,  the  Rev.  Abraham,  49. 

Stenton,  John,  333 ;  his  place  attacked 
by  Indians,  334,  335. 

St.  Lawrence,  the,  xxviii.,  xxxvii.,  54,  56, 

93,  95- 

St.  Pierre,  the,  119. 
Stockbridge,  93. 

Susquehanna  River,  the,  50,  52,  90. 
Sussee  Indians,  the,  121. 
Sweat-ovens,  226. 
Sweden,  119. 

'yADEUSKUND  or  Honest  John,  302. 
1     Tallegewi,  the,  48,  49. 
Tamanend,  300. 
Tamaqua,  or  King  Beaver,  269. 
Tammany  Society,  the,  301. 
Tar-he,  a  Wyandot  chief,  298. 
Tassmanane,    a    preparation    of    Indian 
corn,  195. 
29 


Tatemy,    Moses,    Brainerd's   interpreter, 

302,  307,  337. 
Tawachguano,    Delaware   name    of    the 

Nanticokes,  92. 
Tawalsantha,  Indian  name  of  Norman's 

Kill,  xxxi. 
Tecumseh,  295. 

Thomas,  a  Susquehanna  Indian  at  Beth 
lehem,  267. 

Thomson,  Charles,  xxxvi. 
Thorhallesen,  118. 

Transactions    of  the  Massachusetts  His 
torical  Society  referred  to,  94. 
Trappers,  the,  Nanticokes  so  called,  92. 
Treaties  held  with  the  Indians  between 

1740  and  1760,  xxxv. 
Trueman,  Mr.,  an  Indian  Peace  Commis 
sioner,  182. 

TrumbulFs   History   of  Connecticut   re 
ferred  to,  94. 
Tschachgoos,  the,  142. 
Tuscarawas,    the    river,    85 ;    the   town, 

205. 

Tuscaroras,  the,  96,  99,  327. 
Twightwees  or  Miamis,  the,  121. 

TTMFREVILLE,  Mr.,  121. 

vJ    Unalachtgo,  Turkey  Delawares,  51, 

53,  253. 

Unamis  or  Turtles,  51,  53,  124,  250. 
Unechtgo,  Delaware  name  of  Nanticokes, 

92. 
Upper  Sandusky,  173. 

T  7ATER,  JOHANN  SEVERIN,  124, 

V   125,126. 

Vincennes,  Post,  183,  311. 
Virginia,  xxviii.,  53,  71,  90,  122. 
Virginians  or  "  Long  Knives,"  76. 
Vblnqfs  View  of  the  Soil  and  Climate  of 
the  United  States  referred  to,  256. 

W ABASH  RIVER,  the,  85,  183. 
Waketemeki,  230. 
Wampum,  109. 
Wangomend,  a  Monsey  preacher,  293  et 

seq. 
Wapanachki,  xliii.,  121,  123,  124,  126. 


450 


INDEX. 


Wapsid  Lenape,  i.  e.  the  white  people, 
142. 

Wawundochwalend,  a  chief  of  the  Tus- 
caroras,  206. 

Wayne,  Gen'l  Anthony,  xli.,  89, 133, 192. 

Weiser,  Conrad,  xxx.,  xxxi.,  54. 

Weissport,  1 66. 

Wells,  William,  and  the  bear,  256. 

Wetterholt,  Captain  Jacob,  334. 

White,  a  Nanticoke  chief,  90,  92. 

White  Eyes,  Capt.,  a  chief  of  the  West 
ern  Delawares,  xxxix. ;  biographical 
sketch  of,  69,  151,  152,  153,  279. 

Whitefield,  the  Rev.  George,  52,  336, 

Williamson,  Capt.  David,  in  command 
of  militia  at  Gnadenhtitten  on  Mus- 
kingum,  8 1  ;  his  expedition  by  whom 
authorized,  283,  286. 

Wingenund,  Capt.,  a  Delaware,  279, 
284;  dialogue  with  Col.  Crawford, 
285  et  seq. 

Wistar  to  Heckewelder,  letters  of,  354, 

359- 
Wolf  tribe  of  Delawares,  52,  253. 


Womelsdorf,  xxx. 

W'Tassone,  name  given  by  the  Lenape 

to  the  Oneidas,  99. 
Wyalusing,  83,  196. 
Wyandots,  xl.,  xli.,  xliv.,  95,  119,  130. 
Wyoming,  79,  91,  92,  166. 

WENGEES  (  Yankees},  77,  142,  143. 

yELSBERGER,  the  Rev.  David,  ref- 
"  erence  to  his  Essay  of  a  Delaware 
and  English  Spelling- Book,  xliii., 
125;  biographical  sketch  of,  63; 
quoted,  97 ;  his  German  Iroquois 
Dictionary,  97, 120, 347  ;  his  opinion 
of  the  Iroquois  language,  I2O;  his 
Grammar  of  the  Lenni  Lenape  lan 
guage,  125,  127,  166,  279;  dialogue 
with  Indian  David,  167;  at  Gosch- 
goschink,  293,  338,  347. 
Zinzendorf,  Count  Nicholas  Lewis,  in 
Penna.,  xxx. ;  among  the  Shawanose 
of  Wyoming,  88,  337. 


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JUPI     1   ^    Ww*J 

•••  Disease  b 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 

FORM  NO.  DD6,  60m,  12/80        BERKELEY  CA  94720 

®$ 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  -  U.C.  BERKELEY 


8000758^3? 


